Sharon Tan

There are 925 properties in the Treaty Settlement Landbank, managed by Toit Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand. Homes, apartments, schools, train stations, jails, police buildings, kiwi fruit farms, quarries, tennis courts, and former hospital grounds were among the properties available. Matthew Roskruge, associate professor of economics at Massey University, said settlements were unlikely to compensate for the harm caused to the Mori economy during the previous century and a half when much of the nation’s most precious resources were taken. John Tamihere, head of the Mori Party, has also criticized the landbank for selecting unsuitable properties that iwi may

Homeowners in New Zealand who made their purchases during the height of the country’s inflated property market have been cautioned by analysts that sharply rising interest rates might put an enormous financial strain on them. Rising interest rates and decreasing house values have put some borrowers at risk of negative equity, where they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. This has become New Zealand the “kiwi in the coalmine” for the world’s property markets. “If you map our rent-to-house prices and income-to-house prices, New Zealand is in a world of its own,” said Dr. Michael Rehm,