Posted on 05/17/2016 6:00:53 PM PDT by Lorianne
Edited on 05/17/2016 7:28:14 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Property prices in Auckland have increased by nearly 80% in five years, leaving some families unable to buy or rent ___ Hundreds of families in Auckland are living in cars, garages and even a shipping container as a housing crisis fuelled by rising property prices forces low-income workers out of private rental accommodation.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
NZ - a socialist country, right?
Obama’s design for America in action.
They need to import about 1 million Muslim refugees.
The article said nothing about why the housing prices are so high.
Foreign money, primarily Chinese, absentee owners. Same as California.
The speculation is that it's a safe place they can try and get to if some sort of apocalypse occurs.
How sad if it turns out there are lots of high priced homes that remain empty "just in case" while many are homeless.
Full on Socialized medicine at a minimum.
“...but housing is alluding them....”
?
I don’t know about NZ, but part - a big part - of the problem in Australia is the restrictive nature of “planning councils”. They have a very British attitude. Housing should be a strong point for the Aus and NZ economies, but the regulatory regime is standing in the way. Regulators couldn’t recognize economic opportunity if it bit them in the butt.
lol, missed that.
There is a spot I know on the coast there in CA with empty house after empty house-foreign owned. Pretty, too.
Is there not a problem with squatters in California? Sounds like a prime opportunity.
I have younger relatives who live in Vancouver, BC, but they have little hope of being able to live there long term because housing prices have become so high for the reason you mention. That's a problem in many cities in various countries.
No more than us.
When they eventually sell it will likely come in a wave due to economic issues in China, and they’ll take a bath. They’ll cause another bust in CA residential real estate.
The main problem is that they (government, banks) want high house prices and employ various strategies to keep prices inflating, for example:
- zoning restrictions
- very high population growth
- interest rate cuts whenever house prices stop going up
- promoting real estate investment as an international money laundering platform
- creating tax incentives to promote real estate speculation over other investments
- poor banking regulation (95% loan-to-valuations and so on)
- interest-only loans where the principal is repaid after the house is onsold at a higher price
- allowing banks to borrow $300bn a year from overseas to lend to domestic customers to speculate on residential property
- guaranteeing banks’ wholesale borrowings, so that banks can borrow and lend virtually risk-free
It’s not so much a failure to recognize the economic opportunity of doing something else as a deliberate strategy to create a giant ponzi scheme that is so big and has so many participants that it is “too big to fail” and the rest of the economy will be completely drained to keep it afloat.
Australia also has very relaxed laws about political donations. Foreign donations are legal and in general there is no limit on donation amounts.
Why doesn’t government just get out of the way and let the market work its magic? Even the homeless people would have access to affordable studio and 1-bdrm apartments that entrepreneurs will inevitably open up. Instead you got crap like rent control in NYC, ridiculous zoning laws, and subsidies for “low-income” people who have no incentive to take care of the place they’re using.
“Australia also has very relaxed laws about political donations. Foreign donations are legal and in general there is no limit on donation amounts.”
Did not know that. Explains how Philip Adams stays on the air. Turnbull’s called an election, right?
BNB ping...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.