According to a report that was issued by Veda Advantage, who is a New Zealand credit checking business, the number of property buyers aged 30 to 40 years have stopped making requests for new mortgages. Most believe that property prices here will continue to fall, and many are stepping back to wait for it to happen.
The report shows that many people are concerned about what the economy is doing, and with more worries from the credit crunch brought on by the subprime mortgage defaults in the United States, they are holding back. Mortgage enquiry numbers fell 27% in 2007 to just 275,000, which is down from 350,000 that inquired about a mortgage in 2006.
In the same report, which compared numbers for January 2008 to January 2007, a decrease of 14% was stated for the month. This is solid evidence that the New Zealand property market and the economy is cooling.
As reported by the New Zealand Herald, John Roberts who is the Veda Advantage director, said, "27% is a sharp year on year drop, and given the cyclical trends we've seen from 2000 through to 2008, it's expected we'll see a similar drop off in 2008, one which is likely to be exacerbated by the predicted slowdown of the economy."
