Bumpy ride predicted for property sector

Tighten your seat belts ready for next year in the property sector. So says a senior real estate official who sees interest rates hitting 10 per cent and the job of Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard being advertised.

Conor English, the outgoing chief executive of the Property Institute, said this year's continual monetary policy tightening would dampen house price rises next year.

But he questioned Reserve Bank policy in 2003 when it failed to raise interest rates, saying it waited too long to react to the rampant housing market.

English - brother of National's education spokesman and former leader Bill English - was appointed to head the institute in February 2000 and said one of its proudest achievements was forming one body to represent the interests of three groups: plant and machinery valuers, land valuers, and members of the Property and Land Economy Institute.

English has been appointed commercial director of the Property Group, corporate real estate advisers and negotiators. The institute is yet to appoint a new chief executive.