Housing – Page 3 – Dr Oliver Hartwich

Economic literacy and the housing debate

03/08/2018

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.

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Housing reform vs populist gimmickry

22/06/2018

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.

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Caution needed on value capture

04/05/2018

As tempting it may appear to tap into land value uplifts, we need to be cautious. The model can work – but we need to apply it only in the cases where it can work.

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Challenges stack up for super minister

17/11/2017

There is no more challenging task than making New Zealand’s cities thrive in the global era of urbanisation. Quite appropriately, we now have a superminister to deal with it.

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The power of ideas

08/09/2017

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.”

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A big step towards affordable housing

28/07/2017

The Government’s new infrastructure programme is a huge step towards housing affordability. But much more needs to be done.

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The wrong type of home ownership

10/03/2017

We should not regard the homeownership rate as the most important measure of a functioning housing market. Just because the ownership rate is falling does not tell us much on its own. Neither is a high ownership rate necessarily a positive.

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A wake-up call for global housing policy

27/01/2017

Each year, the global affordability problem is getting worse. This year was no exception. Demographia’s 2017 report is the most depressing read so far.

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Germany may hold the key to solving New Zealand’s housing woes

25/01/2017

The reason why Germany got more built is because there was greater political will to do so. And there are better incentives for towns and cities to deliver the housing that their citizens need.

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An incentives approach for the new PM

16/12/2016

A legacy of housing affordability would be a historic achievement and it would transform the lives of millions of New Zealanders. Good luck, Mr Prime Minister.

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