There were 2191 lifestyle property sales during the three months ended December 2016 -- that's 86 fewer than in the same period in 2015 according to the Real Estate Institute.
During last year $6.9 billion of lifestyle property was sold, made up of 9036 properties -- 11 per cent more properties than 2015's figure, says the institute. The median price for all lifestyle properties sold in the last quarter was $583,000.
Among the regions showing a drop in sales are Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. However, lifestyle sales were up in Wellington, Manawatu/Wanganui and Canterbury.
Fixed mortgages
It's impossible to guess where mortgage interest rates will be tomorrow, let alone next year, but for those looking to fix their mortgage the advice seems to be, go for a two-year deal.
Both Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at the ANZ and economists at Westpac suggest a two-year fix is a good bet, or a two-year fix along with either a portion of the loan on a floating rate (for added flexibility) or a different fixed rate.
"Three to five-year rates seem high relative to where we think short-term rates are going to go over that time," says the Westpac team led by Michael Gordon, in a weekly report.
Bagrie says one and two-year rates are likely to remain unchanged for some time, adding that the RBNZ will likely hold the official cash rate at 1.75 per cent for much of the year.
Home affordability
Another survey came out this week telling us what we already know. Home affordability in Auckland is tougher than ever.
According to the latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, Auckland is the world's fourth least affordable city, sitting behind Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver.
Auckland is among the cities with high house prices and low wages with median homes prices of $830,000 and median household incomes at $83,000.
SuperCity mayor Phil Goff is setting up a housing task force to have a meeting about it.
