Q. I have been saving hard for my first home since the boom and, at the moment, the asking prices are quite ridiculous for all the places I have seen.
Tuesday, August 23rd 2005, 8:31AM
by The Landlord
Would it be silly to buy $10,000 worth of Vector shares? I keep hearing about diversifying and not putting all your eggs in one basket.
What tax rate would I be taxed at? Would capital gains tax be applicable? Should I even be thinking about taxes?
A. It's always good to understand your tax situation. But tax isn't the main issue for you.
The first question is whether you should put off buying a home and, unfortunately, there's no easy answer.
While pretty much everyone expects the pace of house price rises to slow, prices may continue to rise gradually or plateau, rather than fall.
Maybe you should keep looking at houses and put in a low offer when you see something good. If the seller is keen, you might get as good a price now as you ever will. Then again, prices might plunge in a while. Nobody knows.
Regardless of your timing on house buying, I don't like your Vector idea much.
