And the bad thing about that is, (due to the flooding) that was the only way in and out of the city.

The time for the quick buy and flick has disappeared.

If people were aggressively concerned about falling house prices, rising interest rates, you would not expect to see a leap in consents being issued for houses.

When times get tough, we leave (for Australia). Migration will get worse in the next 18 months, undermining the housing market.

Since I have been here, I've had eight or nine friends call and say they've seen friends of ours dead and floating in the water. That is the news I have been getting while my mind is on my daughter.

The kiwi dollar tends to go up an escalator and down the lift shaft.