This was the year the US economy was supposed to shake off the shackles from the Global Financial Crisis and start to fly.
The second half of 2014 saw a raft of strong economic news - house prices rose, more people were employed and economic growth was at levels not seen before 2007.
This year though has been a bit more subdued for the world's largest economy - but its not all bad news.
The job market is the strongest it has been in 15 years and more people are in work now, however wage growth through the hard times has been sluggish and yet to catch up. Recent data released by the US Treasury showed while consumer confidence is high, that has yet to translate in to consumer spending r…
Two years ago it was first time buyers and now it is landlords who the Reserve Bank will target with lending restrictions.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand recently announced it had opened up consultations to examine new lending rules for property investors.
In a statement the RB said it was looking at a "new asset class treatment for mortgage loans to residential property investors." The initial aim was to determine how best to define a property investment loan.
Fairfax News reported proposed changes were to make sure that banks hold enough capital for the risks involved in investment property loans and would bring New Zealand into line with international lending rules, the Reserve B…
The construction of new, single family homes in the US may have stuttered but multi-family developments are continuing to grow.
February saw single-family construction starts drop by 17 per cent on January across the US, the Commerce Department reported. This was partly put down to the cold winter much of the country has experienced. However permits to build single family dwellings dropped to the lowest number in February for over a year.
However the report said total residential building permits climbed in February thanks to an upturn in multi-family construction starts. Multi-family buildings are apartment blocks.
In fact 2014 was a good year for apartment construction in the US with…
