The state of the housing market in New Zealand – trends, policies tried to date and their effectiveness

The key points Shamubeel Eaqub makes are:

• The New Zealand housing market is hot
• Auckland in particular is overheated
• The effects are spilling over to other regions
• This is in part due to government policies
• Many new policies have been tried, none are having the desired effect. Some have bought time
• The solutions are known, but politically unpalatable

Shamubeel Eaqub says that:

“While there are sufficient numbers of housing being built through the cycle, he says, it is not accessible to all. Much of the new supply is aimed at the top end of demand and there is plenty of spare capacity (under-occupancy in much of the new supply). Conversely new supply at the bottom end of the market has become constrained. There is increasing housing deprivation, seen in long waiting lists for state housing, overcrowding, people living in garages, cars and homelessness. Public sector or state housing supply has not increased since 1991 and on a per capita basis is at the lowest level since 1949.”

Figure 2 State housing supply for poor and vulnerable has not kept pace

Read more here. pp 14-19