John Hoyle

Home owners are becoming increasingly uneasy about keeping up with their mortgage repayments, a Research New Zealand survey says.
The poll found home loan interest rates were a concern for 68 per cent of those with mortgages.
The survey of social attitudes asked those with home loans if they were concerned that rising mortgage interest rates might make it difficult for them to keep up with repayments.
Research New Zealand director Emanuel Kalafatelis said 24 per cent of home owners were very concerned and 44 per cent were somewhat concerned.
"As you would expect, the level of concern decreased with rising income."
Of those earning $40,000 or less, 83 per cent said they were concerned or very concerned, compared with 62 per cent of those earning $70,000 or more a year.
Mr Kalafatelis said it appeared the Reserve Bank's monetary policy was starting to have an impact on the outlook of people with home loans.
The Reserve Bank has held the official cash rate at 8.25 per cent after four successive quarterly rises.
Mr Kalafatelis said that Reserve Bank governor Allan Bollard had told Parliament's finance and expenditure committee recently that the bank's monetary policy was effective, but it had taken longer to have an effect because of high commodity prices, the housing boom and an excess of global investment funds.
Banks have recently cut interest rates on fixed-term home loans, with KiwiBank announcing a three-year fixed rate of 8.6 per cent, half a per cent lower than its rivals.
The poll was taken between September 12 and 20. It was completed by 206 home owners with mortgages and has a maximum margin of error of 4.6 per cent.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's latest figures, residential sales volumes have dropped to the lowest figure for August in seven years, though prices remained strong.
National sales fell to 6394 from 6660 in July. Residential sales for August last year were 8556.
Institute national president Murray Cleland said there had been an "excessive" amount of speculation on the residential property market.
The August 2007 figures had showed signs of a pause for buyers to digest interest rates, he said.
There had also been reduced sales of lifestyle blocks, with a declining median price from $445,750 in July to 430,000 in August. This contrasted with the median dwelling price, which rebounded to $350,000 after several months of decline.
The lifestyle block median sale price fall was due to lower sales volumes and increasing price volatility, the institute said.