Safe as houses: Bay comes up trumps

Ioften worry about the value of my house and if I sold it whether I would make any capital gain. I also worry about the economy as I am quite dependent on it for my livelihood.

I have had some sleepless nights lately including through the Covid lockdown. Property is a hot topic especially since so many Kiwis have got their life savings riding on it.

And while worrying about money is nothing new, I think the pandemic has made a lot more people think about it. My spending habits have been slashed and I find myself watching my Kiwisaver.

There is no doubt we are in tough economic times and ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner says the bank believes the recession is just starting.

Westpac economist Westpac industry economist Paul Clark agrees and says the effects will be severe and while Tauranga was likely to perform better than Rotorua due to its larger investment into tourism — as a whole we fared

It was also pleasing to see the latest data from One Roof and Valocity shows average house prices in the Bay of

Plenty have increased by 1.5 per

cent despite the financial impact of

Covid.