Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Spare a thought for Aucklanders today

It is as expected - if our office is anything to go by, Auckland is a miserable town today because the house valuations are out, and they're bad.

Just about everyone has jumped on the computer to have a look by now, I'd say, and just about everyone's house has gone backwards.

So my house - it's gone down in value by 8 percent. One of the bosses, not too bad, only gone back by 4 percent. I don't think anyone's house has gone up in the office. Someone's house has dropped by $250,000.

One colleague, and this colleague is suffering more than anybody else - her house has gone down by 21 percent. That's $1.15 million down to $900,000. That's another $250,000 shaved right off right there. Someone's feeling agitated.

I called a real estate agent today to see if it's wider than just our office. They told me, yep - and people are not happy.

Another real estate agent reckons he's already fielding calls from buyers who are mid-negotiation, who are now saying they're not gonna lift their offer anymore.

They're just gonna leave it right where it is, because look at the valuation that's out today. 

Auckland Council says they normally have about 500 people on their website at any one time. When we called, they said they were watching 12,000 people on their website at any one time.

As I said yesterday, spare a thought for Auckland. If you have an Aucklander in your life, spare a thought for them because it's a tough day for Auckland today.

Because, I mean, we take the mickey out of Auckland, but there is good reason why Auckland feels like this. 

Houses in Auckland mean a lot, don't they?

I feel like probably more than anywhere else in the country apart from maybe Queenstown and the surrounding area, because houses are expensive in Auckland.

Young Aucklanders obsess about it. They scrimp and they save, and they try so bloody hard to get into their first house. It's totally understandable that absolutely no one in this town wants to watch their house then go down in value.

But of course, bear in mind, it is slightly irrational. If you are one of these Aucklanders doing this, you are being irrational, you realize that, because you're not suddenly poorer today than you were yesterday, are you?

I mean, the value of the thing has not changed overnight. It's simply just been written down. In fact, it was written down a year ago, it's just taken them a year to put it out there.

And if you're buying and selling in the same market, it really doesn't matter at all. It's only if you're cashing up to move out of town or to get rid of an investment property or something like that, that this actually matters.

Now, I say that knowing that none of that is gonna sink in - we're gonna continue to be irrational because it is all in our heads, isn't it?

We feel wealthier when the house is worth more, and that ain't what happened today.

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