Rent Week 2018: Riding into office at least partly on the inability of the National government to solve – or acknowledge – the housing crisis in New Zealand, Labour now faces the titanic task of actually making something happen. Don Rowe speaks to Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford about just how Labour … Read more
Sell up and move to Tauranga for a better, more affordable lifestyle? Keri Welham finds Tauranga is still desirable, but housing and wages mean it may now be out of reach. The mass migration has ended. Gone are the convoys of removal vans thundering down the Southern Motorway, and the scenes of Aucklander vs Aucklander … Read more
Having analysed the spate of uplifting stories about millennial strugglers buying homes, Don Rowe reveals how you, too, can lift your foot above your head and on to the lowest rung of the property ladder. It’s not impossible, it just takes a few little tricks – like not paying rent. First published on 16 March … Read more
Yes, Auckland does need more houses. Urban planner Joe Jeffries explains why. A recent article in The Spinoff made the extraordinary claim that increasing housing supply cannot improve affordability and seemed to suggest it could make things worse. That article relied on a strawman version of Economics 101 supply and demand, claiming that model doesn’t … Read more
The new coalition government has made a start on addressing the housing crisis with the just-announced independent housing review. But Jenny McArthur warns that Labour’s proposed KiwiBuild policy could risk adopting solutions that actually fuel the problems they claim to solve, reinforcing inequality for decades to come. After years of futile policy interventions, it’s time … Read more
With house prices at an all-time high, an increasing number of young people are thinking about pooling their resources and buying a property together. But is it really a good idea? In the first part of a series on investment alternatives for ‘Generation Rent’, Jenee Tibshraeny looks at the financial implications of buying with friends. … Read more
House prices are how high now? Maria Slade takes a look behind an alarming graph and finds NZ’s housing ‘bubble’ may be overblown. Canadian commentator and investment adviser Hilliard McBeth alarmed the Twittersphere this week when he posted a graph showing New Zealand house prices 65 times higher than they were in 1970. This compares … Read more
People who are ‘just managing’ in New Zealand are not heartless if they support policies that will help their family most in the short term. But there is a better, more positive way to ease their pain, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw. Yesterday I had a play with the Herald’s income inequality tool created by Max Rashbrooke, … Read more
The Block NZ signifies everything that’s wrong with our tax system. Takapuna tax expert Terry Baucher fills Rebecca Stevenson in on how we can get a lump of cash, and keep it all to ourselves. After we all recovered from the horror that was The Block NZ finale, it’s a good time to learn why … Read more
So much of the New Zealand economy appears to be doing well. Tourism numbers are astonishing, Kiwis are coming home in their droves alongside new migrants, many of whom are young. But Rebecca Stevenson finds the Kiwi property market is always looming behind the sunshine. Do all roads in New Zealand lead to housing? Probably. … Read more
How does New Zealand get out of the housing hole it’s bought and sold itself into? Property and construction professional James Goodhue has a comprehensive plan. Decent housing is a basic human right. Affordable housing and balanced rental legislation are fundamental needs for an equitable society. Home ownership and secure housing tenure are important ingredients … Read more
For years little data existed on the mythical first home buyer and how much of the housing market they occupied, so CoreLogic NZ started tracking “buyer classification”. Nick Goodall, head of research at CoreLogic, says despite market and regulatory changes, first home buyers are holding on. New Zealand has a vivid image of the “first … Read more
Everything conspires against affordable housing: the regulations, the cost of building and most of all the market. But all that can be fixed. AUT construction professor John Tookey explains how. Housing in New Zealand is in trouble in so many ways. Quality, cost and sustainability all have roles in the discourse. But the critical issue, … Read more
The Opportunities Party wants to bring German-style renter protection laws to New Zealand – and that’s great, says Berlin-based New Zealander Maddie Holden. But how exactly does that policy fit with Gareth Morgan’s devotion to neoliberal economics? Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party (TOP) unveiled an interesting new policy about rental housing this week, proposing to … Read more
Sooner or later, most Auckland first home buyers ask themselves if all the misery is really worth it. For Paul Davies, the answer, in the end, was no. And then he got a call from Melbourne… Let’s cut to the chase. We all know it’s a beautiful country, but the flip side of New Zealand’s … Read more
Those who got a foot on Auckland’s property ladder in the nick of time have reaped the benefits since 2008. But has anything improved for the growing number of long-term renters? Kate Newton reports, as part of RNZ’s series Is this the Brighter Future?, which examines the government’s record since 2008. Gareth Shute remembers the … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Wayne Maclaine has been thinking about the housing crisis. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. The Spinoff Auckland is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the growth … Read more
To fix the housing crisis in Auckland, mayor Phil Goff put most of the key players in a room and locked the door. Good plan. And guess what? They’ve produced a really good report, full of good ideas and provocative proposals, says Simon Wilson. Now we’ll see who really wants to fix Auckland’s housing problems. … Read more
What can we learn from the spate of reports about young people bucking the odds and purchasing property? Chris McDowall reads them all and crunches the numbers. Over the last few months I’ve taken to hate-reading the NZ Herald and Stuff articles about plucky young Kiwis buying their first home. Last week, while reading Russell Brown’s excellent … Read more
When you crunch the numbers on Auckland’s housing crisis, the result is clear: we’re still going backwards. So why aren’t we changing our approach? Leonie Freeman thinks she has a solution. Even before we dial up the numbers, it’s clear we are in an uncomfortable space. Changing policies, high level cluelessness, a demand-supply failure and … Read more
Spinoff editor Duncan Greive looks back at rent week, a pop-up campaign which laid bare the numerous and vicious problems with renting in New Zealand. We first mooted a Spinoff ‘rent week’ in late 2016. It was based on the idea that the stories of home ownership were being told constantly, but the challenges and … Read more
As summer drops away with the leaves a family in West Auckland prepares to endure another winter in substandard government housing, in a place that feels far from a home. Don Rowe visits and hears their story. “We drove past where our old house was the other day and they’ve built a new one. My … Read more
What does the dream of owning a home mean in 2017? Is it still achievable for those not already on the property ladder – or even a worthwhile goal? And what are you willing (or able) to sacrifice in order to reach it? The Spinoff wants to hear your stories. If you hadn’t heard, things … Read more
Great news for young people struggling to buy a house while spending up large on window washers, cat whisperers and feng shui consultants. Inspired by big bank economist Tony Alexander, the Spinoff has one hundred thousand dollars for you. A huge couple of days for li’l New Zealand. Lorde has released a superb new record. … Read more
News that house prices fell this month represents a tiny glimmer of hope for ever-gloomy first home buyers. But is that optimism, however feeble, at all justified? Economist Shamubeel Eaqub investigates. House prices fell in February, per latest data from QV. Time to celebrate the popping of the bubble, right? Hold on, don’t uncork the … Read more
This year thousands of people priced out of Auckland – or just looking to escape the big city rat race – will pack up and move to regions like the Queenstown Lakes District, where Peter Newport calls home. But if they’re hoping to be welcomed with open arms, he says, they may just be in … Read more
In August, the Herald ran a crazily racist opinion piece where an unnamed real estate agent criticised Auckland for being “unwholesomely Chinese”. Guy Williams went in search of the truth about the story, and ended up being sucked down a rabbit hole filled with intrigue, recriminations, and Winston Peters. First published August 16, 2016 Holy … Read more
In October we invited you to lob your Auckland housing crisis questions at AUT professor John Tookey, an expert on the subject. Here he responds to a selection of the many questions he received, and explains why – spoiler alert – there are no easy answers. John Tookey is a Professor of Construction Management at … Read more
Early in June the then prime minister told reporters there were plenty of (relatively) affordable Auckland homes on Trade Me. Madeleine Chapman searched the site to see if he was right. Originally published June 2, 2016 Asked yesterday about Auckland’s average house price nearing the $1 million mark, John Key was as upbeat as ever: … Read more