Nonsence!
's true! - the price of houses puts them off if nothing else - we complain about prices down here, but its so much worse up there.
Also, I live out in the suburbs, and my commute time is 10 minutes from when I walk out my door to when I am standing in front of the coffee machine at work; and I get free secure parking for my bike. 
Tell me where I can get all that in Auckland!
[/Telpe waits to be pleasently surprised…]
[quote]Tell me where I can get all that in Auckland!
[/Telpe waits to be pleasently surprised…][/quote]
LOL, you’re not wrong. You’re gonna wait forever there! Of course, 10min from Auckland central and you’re still IN Auckland Central, which is part of it being a large city, so that’s perhaps not a fair comparison. I’m an Aucklander through and through, but there are definitely some disadvantages to living here. Spesh the free parking in town and the price of real estate!
Parnell, Ponsonby, the close end of Mt Eden, and some other (usually expensive) suburbs. Some parts of Grey Lynn are close enough and used to be cheap, but no more.
Close end of Dominion Rd or New North Rd (the suburbs “out the back” of the city) are close and might be cheaperish (i.e. expensive rather than absurdly expensive) because they’re a bit rougher / more commercial. But I dunno, haven’t been house shopping there.
The housing prices here are getting pretty insane. I know some well-off people who are saying “who can afford these houses?”
My theory is that we’re going the way of cities like London. A rich few own lots of houses and rent them out, and everyone else rents off them. Owning your own house is a dream in some cities, and that’s where we’re going. And it’s a vicious cycle, the more houses are for investment the more expensive they become, so can only be afforded by investors.
I’m so glad I bought years ago before it went nuts, but I feel like it’s a sorry situation for people who didn’t. It doesn’t agree with my socialist leanings.
Basically right now is the worst time imaginable to buy a house.
Or is it? Maybe it’s a conspiracy theory by those “rich few” so they can snap 'em all up? 
Personally, I can get from my bed to my work desk in ten minutes without rushing. I live and work in the same suburb (Freemans Bay) on purpose and recommend it to all.
Agreed. The fundamental cause is immigration, both internal (within NZ) and external, which is driving demand for housing in Auckland.
We have no restrictions on the flow of capital, and since our interest rates are historically higher than other countries, we attract overseas capital. This has funded the last 10-15 years of aggressive mortgage and personal finance lending here.
We need a capital gains tax on investment residential property to dampen demand. Your personal home would be exempt. This would stop speculative trade in housing.
In addition, I would like to see a restriction on land purchases/leases to people who are either citizens or permanent residents. Plenty of countries do this. We have to get real - demand from Asia, US and Europe is driving up our land prices, particularly in coastal and high country areas. Allowing non-residents to purchase land is a hangover from our right-wing revolution; it hasn’t worked and will only result in further disenfranchisement for ordinary Kiwis.
If you agree with me, vote Green.
In response to Telpe:
Hamilton is cool, hands down. How can Tamaki Makaurau compete with a Weta-built brass statue of Riff Raff ? 
Not that I’ll ever complain about being five minutes drive from the beach…
So Thats why stuff keeps breaking! because the people who make and manage our Broadband exchanges drink coffee all day!
I agree with so much of what you are saying here Mike- to own a slice of NZ you should either have to be born here, live here or at least pay taxes here!
[quote=“Mike Curtis”]
If you agree with me, vote Green. [/quote]
hah! but beware the backstabbing from larger parties when you split your vote! (At least the right hasn’t seem to figure out MMP and the concept of coalition partners yet - the parties on th right spent most of the last election sabotaging each other 
)
[quote=“Mike Curtis”]
Hamilton is cool, hands down. How can Tamaki Makaurau compete with a Weta-built brass statue of Riff Raff ?
Not that I’ll ever complain about being five minutes drive from the beach…[/quote]
The big street party whan they unveiled it was really cool.
My partner is ex-Auckland, and really misses the sea - aparently NZs largest river and several lakes just arent the same. 
Actually, I drink hot chocolate, but you should know that most of geekdom is caffiene-powered
I used to work night shift IT support. Just my floor would go through one of those big tins of coffee in about 2 nights.