Housing

Being a house is the most attractive job in New Zealand today. If you do not believe me, let me tell you the story of our family home.

Last week, a paper by the Helen Clark Foundation garnered much media attention. Somewhere to live presented the Foundation’s views on housing policy. I read the document with an open mind and personal curiosity.

There is nothing in our housing affordability data we should ever get used to. They are and remain outrageous.

When Housing Minister Phil Twyford spoke at the Initiative’s retreat last week, I had only one regret about having invited him: Our event is held under Chatham House rules.

If house prices go up, it is a scandal. If house prices go down, it is a disaster. That must be the logic by which the media reports on the ups and downs of the property market.

Besides, the construction of 9,000 homes is more than 26 times the number of buyers who have qualified for Kiwibuild so far. It’s a pity that complex finance initiatives do not make for great photo opportunities with the Prime Minister.

At my next housing discussion, I will not mention I am an economist. Instead, I will demand that houses grow on trees, that infrastructure funding falls from heaven, and that people stop charging each other for products and services. Kumbaya, kumbaya.

It is hard to introduce populist policies without hurting the economy. That is the takeout from the Government’s decision to water down its planned restrictions on foreign property buyers.