Kiwi’s have been hopeful for a building boom to resolve our housing crisis. Sadly according to a top financial crystal ball gazer there will not be a building boom.
Tony Alexander, Chief Economist at BNZ top says “There cannot be a building boom in New Zealand because the resources are simply not available”.
Whilst the government has promised 10,000 new affordable homes to help New Zealanders it may not be that simple.
Obstacles to solving our housing shortage includes developers inability to obtain funding due to tighter lending rules. Somehow this massive undertaking will need to be funded by someone. Apart from lending restrictions we would expect to see a more be a cautious attitude from developers and landlords.
In addition investors money drying up the new government have promised a number of measures to make life easier for those renting. We would expect investors to have a more conservative approach to the market as we will probably see measures to regulate their business affecting ability to generate profits.
The primary reason for not being able to build houses in the numbers needed is the simple a lack of tradesman. All building trades including builders, plumbers, painters and plasterers are hard to find, let alone a good one! The new Jacinda’s / Peters government has made it very clear it is unwilling to supplement the shortage in the workforce with immigrant workers.
We may have some time to wait yet to resolve this nation-wide issue on which the 2017 election was fought so hard. Good luck Auckland!!
Arjen Bloem
Thanks to Tony Alexander –