Government says Auckland houses are affordable, keep saving

The Government says young Auckland house hunters just need to keep saving. YouTube / inthehouseNZ

The Government is sticking to its guns: there is no housing crisis and young Aucklanders looking to buy just need to keep saving.

In parliament today Social Housing Minister Amy Adams stopped short of warning millennials off flat whites and smashed avocado toast - but only just.

Having looked at the numbers behind the latest QV property statistics I wrote a column last week suggesting young Aucklanders might as well give up trying to own their own home.

There is no way young people can keep up with the average annual increase of $114,000 in Auckland if they are on any kind of normal income.

The column was, remarkably, endorsed and retweeted by leaders of both The Act Party and The Green Party.

This is the extent of political consensus about this issue now.

Today Act Party leader David Seymour put the question to parliament, asking Social Housing Minister Amy Adams if she thought young home buyers should give up?

The answer of course was no.

Adams and the National Government refuse to admit we have a crisis. They refuse to admit housing has exacerbated inequality under their watch.

They don't have to trust the opposition of course.

But they could read the housing analysis in the manifesto produced by right wing think-tank The New Zealand Initiative, they could read the latest report by Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod.

By drawing selectively on property statistics that are less robust that Quotable Value Adams claims Auckland property prices are now easing.

Most property commentators believe the summer downturn - caused in part by new Reserve Bank lending rules - will be short lived.

She quoted stats suggesting record numbers of new apartments are being built - without noting that this will still be well short of the numbers required to meet population growth and address the supply and demand imbalance.

She also noted there are 1800 listings in Auckland for properties worth less than $600,000.

So there you go. If you are young, angry and frustrated with this super-heated property market, you've been told.

If you think something is wrong with the home ownership equation - this Government doesn't believe you.