True. My partner and I have quite a bit of stuff (currently rent a 3 bedroom house and use all of it) but no house of our own to put in! Go figure eh?
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Fair enough - much of my post was personal observation and hearsay. However, from census stats, there had been no change in NZ household size between 2006-2013. The post I was responding to referred to Auckland where inter-census household size has increased to 3.0 from 2.9 and where 4+ households have increased from 32.8% (2006) to 33.7% (2013) of total households. In 2001 the 4+ households comprised 31.8% in Auckland so there seems to be a trend there in NZ's most expensive city.
Obviously we could adopt the German approach if we ever got serious about balancing supply and demand for houses while stabilising prices. However I don’t think there is yet much political incentive to do this yet despite their own reports recommending similar measures.
However given this reluctance one direction that often seems overlooked is the idea of relocating economic activity. Currently companies can locate offices in Auckland at relatively low direct cost as the associated infrastructure expenses are carried by the public purse. Perhaps there are economic incentives that could persuade companies to relocate many activities to regional centres where the cost of labour is lower and inefficiencies (commuting times etc.) are greatly reduced.
That said the same could be applied to government. You have to question the wisdom of concentrating public services in Wellington, a city with limited usable space, an unappealing microclimate and prone to natural disasters.
Auckland City is still rebalancing the rates differential on business properties which will further reduce the rates burden on business premises....so this will make the city even more appealing. That, coupled with the "rebalancing" of rates throughout the region following the "anschluß" of the previous councils, will mean even larger increases for some residential ratepayers, adding further to the household expense pressures in the area. Many businesses prefer to be closer to their markets and Auckland appeals in NZ as it is a big, camparatively dense and growing market.
How are infrastructure costs carried more by the public purse in Auckland than elsewhere? Certainly to the extent that Councils bear the cost of infrastructure, then that is covered to an extent by ratepayers (including businesses) and land developers. One of the issues cited for house price increases has been the size of the development levy (for infrastructure requirements) on new subdivisions. To stimulate a move to provincial NZ, maybe this cost could be shifted on to business ratepayers to help ease the residiential cost burden and to make Auckland a less attractive place for businesses to set up shop?
Most of the sharp end of government departments is located outside Wellington CBD and indeed Wellington. Many might think that head offices that fall over in, say, an earthquake, might be no great loss. Though there are relocation plans ready to go.
I lived in Auckland for a long time, never left home without a brolly. Trust me the Wellington microclimate is a great improvement. The air here is clean and clear, and Wellington on a good day .....
It depends whereabouts you live in each city...micro-climates differ across the Auckland isthmus and region.
From experiencenz.com:
Auckland winter ave temp high 14.7°C; Wellington 11.3°C
Auckland winter rain days/month 13; Wellington 11
So Welly is drier and colder. So, you may be less likely to get wet in the capital but, when you do get wet, you may be more likely to catch a chill :)
Wellingtons wonderful microclimate at 2.30pm. Wellington City 26c, Lower Hutt 28c Wainuiomata 32c and Upper Hutt 34c ;)