The problem is that most people want to live in Auckland where the average house price is expected to reach a million dollars within the next year, writes Barry Soper.
Opinion
Blame it on Austin Mitchell who lived in God's Own in the 60s and created the expectation with his book published in 1972 called the Half Gallon, Quarter Acre, Pavlova Paradise.
It was about life way back then when our expectation was sitting with a flagon of beer, washing down
the iconic meringue pudding covered in cream with Chinese gooseberries on top, looking out at the expansive backyard of the house we'd built.
It was Mitchell's idea of utopia, the land of milk and honey, which has become the land of depressed dairy prices and money that'll buy little more than a pop up house.
The politicians squabble over who's to blame for the state we now find ourselves in. The answer is market forces, and the fact that we've now got migrants flooding into the country at the highest rate in a hundred years, which puts pressure on everything from health to housing.
We live in a country that's just as attractive as it's always been, particularly if you're an investor where interest rates are at the lowest level in 60 years, and where the tax system makes us a housing haven. Even Quotable Value NZ is now saying the market's being driven by those with an eye for what has been a handsome return on investment.
