Westpac Bank now expects house prices to rise

Westpac Bank now expects house prices to rise
Staff reporters
Westpac Bank now expects house prices to rise 3.5 percent between March and December 2020.“The housing market has shot the lights out, far exceeding the forecast we made when covid first broke out,” chief economist Dominick Stephens said in its latest update.When covid-19 first broke out in New Zealand it tipped a 7 percent fall in house prices. In July it upgraded those forecasts to a 2.5 percent fall but “even this is looking too pessimistic,” he said.“First and foremost, covid-19 and the associated lockdowns hav...