Opinion: House flipping needs to be watched

A Rotorua house selling twice in less than two months made a profit of $93,000, and here I am wondering if I'll ever be able to get on the property ladder.

In Saturday's edition we reported on the state of 'house flipping' in Rotorua.

The practice of flipping was loosely defined as properties sold twice or more within a single year for profit.

Flipping can mean buying a property and doing it up or sitting on it for a relatively short time until the market is more favourable, and then selling it.

In Rotorua in 2016, 41 houses were sold, bought and sold again within 12 months. Fifteen were sold within three to six months after purchase and five were sold in less than three months after purchase.

Of those five was the Fenton Park property that sold 54 days after purchase for a profit of $93,000.

In that 54 days the house was making $1700 a day.

Local real estate agents were quick to say the practise of flipping was not a problem in Rotorua with one saying those who bought houses, did them up and sold them on quickly were doing a service to Rotorua, improving our property stock.

I can certainly see the merit in that argument but as a 25-year-old renter I'm disheartened as I watch the dream of owning my own home drift further and further away.

House flipping in Rotorua may not be as prevalent as it is in other centres but that doesn't mean it won't become a problem if it remains unchecked.

I know I'm not the only one who feels priced out of the property market and I know there would have been others who read Saturday's story and felt like they had no hope buying a house.

While the market will continue in its cyclical motion, house flipping - where the property is not improved and circumstance did not influence the seller's decision - needs to be kept in check.

Without that, people like me will continue to watch their dreams of home ownership slip out of their hands.