Mortgagee sales: who is to blame? | The Jackal

9 Jun 2012

Mortgagee sales: who is to blame?

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Mortgagee sales have hit record numbers, and landlords are the new victims.

Figures from the Terralink International land and property information company show about six forced sales a day nationally, or 44 a week, challenging statistics from realestate.co.nz, which has claimed that foreclosures are declining.

Terralink managing director Mike Donald said it was no longer struggling couples who were hurting but property investors, and he predicted this year could be New Zealand's worst for foreclosures.

"There has been a large increase in the number of mortgagee sales for individuals, considered to be property investors, who own multiple properties," said Mr Donald.

Terralink recorded 524 mortgagee sales from January to March, at least 100 more than in the same period last year and more than the previous record of 519 mortgagee sales in 2010 when New Zealand was at the height of the recession.

If you needed any other economic indicator that National's policy direction is a complete failure, there it is. Despite the right-wings statistical manipulations, New Zealand is in fact in the grip of a harsh double dip recession.
Don't be expecting the government to do anything about it either... Because they're sitting pretty as owners of multiple properties. Why should they care about less New Zealander's being able to afford a family home?

Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said the rising number of mortgagee sales could be reflecting a stronger housing market.

"Banks might be taking the opportunity of buoyant prices to release stock that's been lurking for a while."

Not likely O'Sullivan. An increase in mortgagee sales is an indicator of a stagnant and low waged economy, whereby people are not able to generate enough wealth to pay their mortgages. It's as simple as that.