The cuts keep coming

It's likely the Official Cash Rate (OCR) will drop to 2.5 per cent when Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler announces his next rate decision on October 29.

There was no surprise when he cut the OCR from 3 to 2.75 per cent on September 10, so all the attention was on what he said about the economy and hints to any future cuts.

If industry analysts are to be believed, another rate reduction is likely -- completely undoing the four rate hikes that Wheeler made last year.

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Following last week's cut, floating mortgage rates were lowered to between 5.89 and 6 per cent.

But what of fixed rate deals?

Will the currently lowest rate of 4.35 per cent for one year from the ASB and BNZ be beaten soon?

Apparently, some people are hoping for a fixed rate that starts with a three -- I think they may be waiting in vain, but could the fixed rate deals get any better?

Perhaps if our OCR ends up matching Australia's 2 per cent, then maybe a sub-4 per cent fixed rate will appear.

Going to market

With more house buyers than sellers, most Auckland real estate agents have plenty of people on their books looking for property.

This has led to a handful of sales being made without the agents having taken their clients' properties to market.

While a quick sale may please some vendors, I wonder if they are getting the best price for their home -- you can only sell it once.

Hot property

Auckland's North Shore is leading the way when it comes to increased median property values in the Super City.

According to research released by real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson, during the 18 months to July, Milford was the stand out district with house prices there rising 46 per cent to $1.161 million.

That's almost double the Auckland-wide average of 24 per cent.

Closer to the heart of the city, Sandringham values have gone up by more than 41 per cent to $981,000, but that was overshadowed by Epsom, where the median price of a home is $1.71 million -- which is up by almost 43 per cent.

Manurewa has the lowest priced properties in Barfoot's top 20 locations.

Placed at 13th for price rises, the median value of a home there is $496,000 -- up almost 34 per cent in 18 months.

Book winners

The winners of our draw for a free copy of The New Zealand Property Guide -- kindly supplied by author Lisa Dudson -- are: Wendy Corkill, Bethlehem; Phillip Stott, Auckland and Brenda Innes, Hamilton.

Thanks to all who entered the draw following last Saturday's promotion, and congratulations to the winners.