Hi guys

To answer this question we need to ask what are you hoping to achieve. Is it cah flow, capital growth or a blend on both?
Having said that
it’s not a far question to ask which is better the north or the south. The market isn’t that simple. Some areas like Wanaka, Dunedin, Nelson which are all in the south have had some of the most spectacular capital growth in the past 12 months. Where as there are areas (some very small town) that you need to be careful if you are wanting to invest in the South Island.
For the North Island which is the economic powerhouse of NZ is the area from Auckland to Hamilton to Tauranga. The Bay of plenty, Taupo and Napier has seen some great price growth and may continue to also. Some areas though have lost large portions of there population such as Tokoroa. Some area of NZ are now fully priced i think but other areas will continue to show capital growth. There are also areas where you ahve to be careful with the types of tenants you get. I remember one Banker saying to me the further north you go the worse the tenant. While this is an exageration there is some truth to it.
The ANZ bank for instance will not give 80% (max 70%) finance to some places such as large areas of Wanganui, Flaxmere (Hastings) and Tokoroa.

I think the question needs to be asked which are the better areas to invest (irrespective of island) and what you hope to achieve through your investments.

Hope this helps a little
regards westan

Hi Yack

in case you don’t believe it some people have been extremely sucessful investing in cash positive properties. i know in my experience the best deals aren’t always the ones in my own neighbourhood- there a big wide world out there. There are many ways to make property investing successful and i know the way i do it isn’t the only way. Personally i invest to make money , being close to home doesn’t bother me, sure it would be nice but making investing profitable is my number one priority.

regards westan

Wow Mel

that was very nice of you to do all that reaearch to answer the question. Keep up the great work, you know we all appreciate you.

regards westan

Hi Gocats

good to hear that all is well with your IP., good comments about rental in Invercargill with the onset of winter anyone buying there must ensure your home is well heated or it may sit vacant. Hopefully the next intake of students in July will taker up some of the slack in the 2brm market. One of our clients emailed me some info about a large Multinational that has just set up office in invercargill focusing on the area as a growth center.
GoCats on 74k you would already have some capital gains on that home. With the new freezer works opening soon it will have soome more growth. And the propose oil drilling can only help the area.
Nice to see your footy team doing well, glad i’m out of the country with the way the Tigers are going, i might have to return to Oz to coach them, i doubt anone else would take up the job[biggrin]

cheers
westan

Hi Guys

Yack, from time to time people come to this forum and cause a little annoyance, they usually depart an find someone else to upset, hope to see you back here soon

regards westan

Hi guys

If you still have debt on your own home the best thing is to pay it down first as interest isn’t tax deductable on your own home. (what terry was saying)

The way i look at is if i pay off the principal then in effect i’m getting a 7% (or whatever interest rate the loan is) return on my money, if i think i can do better than 7% then i’d rather the cash, Personally i’d always choose Interest only because i think 7% return is a bit average.

regards westan