EDITOR: Skyrocketing house prices force Kiwis to fly

I received an email letter this week from Mount Maunganui man Shaun Ellis.
In his letter he explained that he and his wife were leaving New Zealand and Tauranga, in particular, because they couldn't break into the housing market and they could see no prospect of this happening in the future.
This couple is now headed over the ditch to Australia where they see more hope for the future.
But Shaun's letter wasn't just a letter of gripes, he seemed genuinely disappointed that he had to leave his country to get ahead.
Shaun is a qualified and experienced fitter and welder while his wife, Annabelle, is an environmental scientist.
As Shaun says, these are supposedly good vocations in fields with skill shortages.
These certainly weren't exactly the sort of occupations you would consider would prohibit a couple from buying a house.
In his letter Shaun lamented the wealthy foreigners buying property in our market forcing prices up.
I guess we can include cashed-up Kiwis moving to the Bay in this category.
We were intrigued by his letter so we gave Shaun and Annabelle a call to further explore what they were going through.
I was a little dismayed by Shaun's story and the potential impact he and others like him will have on this country if such flight continues.
Shaun is not the first and won't be the last Kiwi who'll struggle to get into the New Zealand property market, particularly in growth markets like Tauranga.
You have to admit that the increase in property values in recent years have been quite ridiculous.
When you cast your eyes through the property pages of the Bay of Plenty Times you can see that you need a few dollars behind you if you want to break into the housing market.
I can still recall like yesterday when my wife and I bought our first house in August 1993.
Between us we had saved up a deposit of $55,000 and figured we were happy to take on a $55,000 mortgage with whatever house we bought.
We fell in love with a basic three-bedroom house in Brookfield with a lovely sunny section and took the nervous plunge of buying our first property.
It was a great house but it was not much more than an entry-level property for a young married couple.
Over the next eight years this was to be the first home for our three children and many happy times were had there.
In 2001 growing pains forced us to look for a little more living room so we reluctantly bid farewell to our first house.
When the latest house valuations came out my snoopy side took over and I decided to go on line and see what our old house was worth now.
From what we can tell from the outside, not a lot has changed in the house, it is still the same charming little house.
But we were staggered to find that its latest valuation was a whopping $306,000. The land, a little over 700sq m, is now worth $198,000 and the dwelling $108,000.
Using my best mathematics, I make that a 178 per cent increase in value over 13 1/2 years.
I believe this is a house for a young married couple or young family to move into.
But how can a young married couple be expected to find or be able to cover repayments for a $306,000 property?
There is just no way.
When I look at this valuation I can see exactly what Shaun is talking about.
I'm sure our little old house is typical of what is going on in the Tauranga housing market.
I don't have any answers but I do know that it is a problem if we want to keep young people and young families in the area and attract more.
Thanks for your letter Shaun and for highlighting a problem that many of us either do not know about or choose to ignore.