As much as we may delight in blaming all our woes on the Government when it comes to affordable new houses I think we only have ourselves to blame.
I know that sounds harsh but when you are trying to buy your first home or you’ve just moved to Auckland then affordability is the major issue you have to deal with. So finding the answer to this question is very important.
As a nation we have developed a housing culture which promotes every house looking different from any and all of its neighbours. We spurn the idea of rows of identical houses on tiny plots of land. We want to have a truly individual home on a good sized piece of land and we want it to have 3-4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and preferably 2 living areas. Not forgetting the garaging of course.
Over the past few decades the area of land we live on has probably reduced somewhat but our expectations of design and size have increased. And it is this change which has helped stop the building of affordable houses because building such a variety of home styles is expensive.
When you add the cost of land and the cost of satisfying the Resource Management Act and local authorities it is hardly surprising that developers have focused on building large, high-cost homes.
We need to consider how we can change people’s mindsets for the future. That way we can encourage the building of homes which suit the budget without encouraging Auckland to sprawl even further.
Market update
This month the news continues to be more of the same in Auckland. House listings continue at a low rate and buyers are still eagerly seeking houses across every price range.
Real estate agents are anticipating that the shortage of listings will continue right through the rest of summer.
BNZ economist Tony Alexander predicts property investors will return to the Auckland market based on the key fundamental that construction has failed to keep pace with population growth. This has lead to on-going shortages and rental price increases which have hit the headlines recently and should be the catalyst to get investors buying.
If only they can find properties to buy of course.
Robyn Forryan
Property Magic
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