Affordable Housing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

16 November 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

Affordable Housing

With the affordability of housing currently circulating the walls of parliament, it seems timely to ask, why are houses in New Zealand so expensive?

Luke Malpass, Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, who is currently conducting significant and intensive research in this area, will be presenting a talk to try and explain why housing is so costly.

The talk, an Initiative@home event based in Wellington, will examine the current state of New Zealand’s housing stock and building rates, and will provide an analysis of why New Zealander’s have come to invest such a large proportion of income into a large unproductive asset – which they call their home.

“With the release of the government’s response to the productivity commission, this is a hot button issue right now, but the situation is complex,” says Malpass who believes a robust and thorough understand of the problems facing the housing market are crucial.

“Why is it that house prices are so artificially expensive?

Malpass will be covering several areas contributing to the housing price explosion of recent decades. He will cover land supply, regulatory burden, the unexplored link between local government finance, and affordable housing, along with other critical issues on this topic.

He will also run through commonly held myths about the housing market and silver bullet solutions in New Zealand.

The Initiative@home at home event will be a good opportunity to commence conversation about this issue of importance to New Zealand’s future.

http://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/

ENDS

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