Trouble is ~ we are all wanting our cake & eating it too !
The way interest rates are going is going to end up presenting another whole new set of problems. My 93 year old mother got to the stage that she was unable to look after herself. She was widowed at 48 and has struggled her entire life. She sold her $400,000 house in Mt Roskill for $1mill (to an Asian speculator). With that money, she bought a serviced apartment in a well known retirement village. The "left over" money was invested as her "comfort fund". 12 months ago ~ she was getting $2500 per month (before tax). Now, she gets $1,900. Next year, she will be lucky to get $1,500 (before tax !)
That is a 50% DROP in earnings. I challenge any reading this that they could live without 50% of their earnings.
The house prices are caused by house shortages. Period. Forget the Asian investors. If they were taken out of the equation ~ their place would be taken by Kiwi investors and prices may drop very marginally. We need more land made available, we need more tradesmen and we need less compliance costs. This problem that we are faced can only be fixed by a bi-partisan approach to things.
I heard on the radio today that some grissel gripper wanted to drastically increase our refugee intake. Yeah right ~ lets bring another 5000 families in and increase the housing shortage even more. It will be fine for me (in Auckland). My house will go up in value another few hundred K. It will do nothing for my kids or grandchildren though.
Already, one of my children (and their family) are talking of shifting to Tauranga / Papamoa. It is probably the right answer for them (purely because of house prices) ~ but it is going to cause a huge upheaval in the whole family infrastructure. Who will baby sit etc etc ~ when the grandparents are no longer in the same city ?) I just hope their marriage will last the extra pressure.
Rant over !!!!