housing

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Auckland house prices – the good ol’ days ’05

Written By: Colonial Viper - Date published: 7:14 am, July 17th, 2015 - 58 comments

Home ownership rates have been crashing since the 1990’s. Auckland house prices have been classed as “seriously unaffordable” since 2006 or earlier. The answer is to make sure that houses are no longer considered a financial asset for capital gains.

National’s leadership on home ownership

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:49 am, July 16th, 2015 - 55 comments

No need to worry about low levels of home ownership, National is here to lead. They understand the fundamental issues, and they have a plan…

Parnell Ponzi; When are National going to Act on Housing?

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 9:22 am, July 15th, 2015 - 176 comments

National need to act now to end the housing crisis. The market has failed and doing nothing is going to blight the future of Kiwis. The answer is easy. End speculation, build houses. But do National have the guts to do the right thing?

Phil Quin resigns from Labour

Written By: Colonial Viper - Date published: 12:37 pm, July 14th, 2015 - 390 comments

Phil Quin: “I cannot, however, belong to an organisation that considers racial profiling fair sport. It really is that simple. I will rejoin once this or any future leader publicly repudiates such tactics.”

NRT: This is wrong

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:44 pm, July 13th, 2015 - 49 comments

“Auckland’s median house price rising a record 26 per cent to $755,000 over the past year..”. This is what a bubble looks like: when your house “earns” a top-end salary just by existing. And its a perfect example of why we need a capital gains tax.

China Crisis

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 12:43 pm, July 12th, 2015 - 199 comments

Good on Labour for saying what needed to be said. Can they, the Greens and NZ First save the next generation of Kiwis from being tenants in our own land?

Includes Bonus Seinfeld reference!

International investment in Auckland housing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:08 am, July 12th, 2015 - 177 comments

Phil Twyford’s recent announcement on Auckland’s housing crisis raises important issues concerning the inflow of overseas capital into our housing market. But should it have depersonalised the argument?

The state of state houses

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:03 am, July 12th, 2015 - 17 comments

The data for the trial Warrant of Fitness scheme for state houses from last year was recently (finally!) released. 80% of them need serious work. 22% didn’t have functioning bathroom and toilet doors. What is going on?

Auckland property buyers

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:57 am, July 11th, 2015 - 436 comments

The big story this morning is Labour’s analysis of Auckland property purchase data.

A win on rental standards

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 12:56 pm, July 9th, 2015 - 105 comments

This is a good example of a policy win from opposition. More please!

Christchurch needs blankets

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:51 am, July 8th, 2015 - 96 comments

A Christchurch blanket bank has run out of blankets, in this the “seventh year of the brighter future”…

New Powers to Ministers to screw Iwi

Written By: tracey - Date published: 10:19 am, July 2nd, 2015 - 25 comments

The Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill allows designated Ministers to sell off state houses. Currently Housing New Zealand has no such power. Interestingly however this Government could introduce a Bill with criteria to enable sales to be signed off by the CE of Housing New Zealand but instead they are seeking that power for themselves. But within it there is a fishhook for iwi. UPDATE: comment from Turei and response from Bennett

Will New Zealand social housing soon subsidise Australian social housing?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:56 pm, June 29th, 2015 - 58 comments

John Key’s interview on Morning Report this morning suggests that National does not know what it is doing with its social housing policy. Are we approaching a situation where profits from New Zealand social housing is going to underwrite the cost of Australian social housing?

Selling state houses to Australia

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:29 am, June 28th, 2015 - 20 comments

English needs to explain why the government can’t find NZ buyers for their “social housing” plans. The Nats to explain how selling state houses helps a single family in need.

Dickensian

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:23 am, June 25th, 2015 - 73 comments

Step 1: Make welfare assistance almost impossible to obtain. Step 2: Dismiss the concerns of the poor by telling them they should ask for more help. Done!

If you thought the Auckland property bubble was bad now…

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:27 am, June 24th, 2015 - 81 comments

… then prepare for it to get a lot worse.

NRT: Disgraceful

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:05 am, June 23rd, 2015 - 11 comments

I/S at No Right Turn: “Since coming to power in 2008, the National government has sold more than a thousand state houses and tightened access to the remainder considerably. The net result? People not getting the assistance they need…”

The death of trickle down economics and the mess we’re in

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:11 am, June 17th, 2015 - 139 comments

Trickle down economics is pronounced dead by the IMF. Housing, the working poor and the economy – the policy settings are wrong everywhere.

Culprit for Nats’ housing fiasco located

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 10:39 am, June 16th, 2015 - 40 comments

You’ll never guess!

The Government’s Auckland Housing policy fiasco grows

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:59 am, June 16th, 2015 - 20 comments

The Herald has reported that, contrary to John Key’s assurances that the Government did not have to do so, one of the pieces of land set aside for the Government’s affordable housing partnership with private developers has already been offered to iwi under right of first refusal.

Ghost houses and the invisible hand

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:01 am, June 16th, 2015 - 243 comments

Auckland has an urgent deficit of 20,000 to 30,000 houses. Meanwhile 22,000 houses are sitting empty. Behold the efficiency of the market!

Smith embarrassed as Iwi propose legal proceedings over Auckland housing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:51 am, June 15th, 2015 - 60 comments

Ngati Whatua and Waikato-Tainui have announced that they will seek a declaration from the High Court on their rights to participate in the constructing of social housing on Crown land in Auckland. Their proposal that the Crown joins with them in making a joint application is a good one. Surely Nick Smith will agree to this.

Affordable – in your dreams

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:03 am, June 15th, 2015 - 69 comments

Even under the best assumptions National’s “affordable” houses in Auckland are not actually affordable for the average paid worker. Nick Smith is dreaming.

Costly government

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 14th, 2015 - 43 comments

This is the true irony of National governments. Their entire platform is one of “fiscal responsibility” and “good economic management” yet time and time again they spend money the way I did when I was a teenager: false economies and short-term wish fulfilment.

The Responsibilities of Government

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:00 am, June 14th, 2015 - 45 comments

The death of Emma-Lita Bourne is not just a personal tragedy for the family: it is an event that should make New Zealand angry with the powerful people in our society who control the purse strings. They are responsible for condemning thousands of children to life-threatening conditions. And they are doing it in our name!

Heartless government

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 13th, 2015 - 123 comments

A few stories of recent weeks which show exactly what kind of government we have.

Housing Bubble

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:11 am, June 13th, 2015 - 94 comments

There is always a need for rental properties and the idea that there is not enough supply again comes from the inability for people to purchase housing themselves. This swells the demand above and beyond. So should the Government try to stop people becoming landlords? Of course not. But to raise the standard of living that a landlord must provide will slow demand and give better housing