Labour / NZ First Government

[fungus pudding]

No point , just fungus blabbering on, ignoring a contract had been let

westerly

'This week, planning for the new hospital hit its first snag when it was announced confirmation of the hospital site master plan — the decisions about the final size and shape of the complex — would be delayed.
Dr Clark said he expected the new hospital would probably be smaller than was first thought, although bigger than the present complex'.

[Balance]

Benchmarks from that one opinion looked good to me

RISING CONFIDENCE CONFIRMEDHard on the heals of the WestpacMM quarterly consumer confidence report, the ANZ-Roy Morgan onefor the month of December was out today and also recorded a lift in sentiment. Consumer confidence lifted +2 points in December to 123, its third consecutive increase and that is now above its historical average. The proportion of households who think it’s a good time to buy a major household item lifted another +3 points to 44%, a solid level.

On the back of house prices supposedly zooming back towards new record high.

Whatever happened to Labour's plans to rein in house prices?

[fish]

I wonder if it has anything to do with populist causes attracting the working classes. Both the US and UK have right wing government with substantial worker support. Lefties world wide are so busy peering at everyone else's navel to examine if they meet their inclusive standards, that they have dropped the ball. Western society in general will pay for it either way. Worst case it goes either horribly to the right, or, end up in a Big Brother Socialist /Fascist mashup state. Not pretty either way.

I also feel the rise of populist politicians will endanger the future health and safety of the world.
Not many learn from History

[Aaron]

These lifting of the minimum wage will not help those on minimum wage one iota. Prices will rise accordingly as will rents and they will be just as badly off as before. Except businesses that employ them may feel the pinch initially and just look to automation or not hire new staff. Talk about shooting your constituents when they are down.

I think rents have already been rising quite considerably as inflation is in the price of houses and rents are being driven by this.

I guess you agree with me that targeted inflation should be scrapped as it is creating distortions in society. Raising minimum wage is mucking around with the symptoms not addressing the actual problem. Same with the affordability of houses.

[Balance]

I think rents have already been rising quite considerably as inflation is in the price of houses and rents are being driven by this.

I guess you agree with me that targeted inflation should be scrapped as it is creating distortions in society. Raising minimum wage is mucking around with the symptoms not addressing the actual problem. Same with the affordability of houses.

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/...rd-highs-being

"Rising house prices are pushing the dream of home ownership further out of reach for aspiring first home buyers, in spite of recent cuts to mortgage interest rates."

So what is sweet Jacinda going to do now?

She promised CGT - reneged on it when the heat got too hot in the kitchen.

She blamed foreign buyers (read China buyers) so banned them. But what the heck, prices are rising again at the bottom end! Did she read this one wrong?

She also promised Kiwibuild, remember?

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

[Aaron]

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/...rd-highs-being

"Rising house prices are pushing the dream of home ownership further out of reach for aspiring first home buyers, in spite of recent cuts to mortgage interest rates."

So what is sweet Jacinda going to do now?

She promised CGT - reneged on it when the heat got too hot in the kitchen.

She blamed foreign buyers (read China buyers) so banned them. But what the heck, prices are rising again at the bottom end! Did she read this one wrong?

She also promised Kiwibuild, remember?

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

CGT Michael Cullen's proposal may have scared the electorate too much. Jacinda is a politician and will follow the voters, much like Sir John Key when he was in power. I was very disappointed to hear her say she liked the universality of national super, to appease the boomers back at the last elections.
Did Labour extend the bright line test to 5 years? If so this was an increase in a type of capital gains tax.

The foreign buyer ban seemed to work for awhile, real estate agent were squirming in the paper a while back after saying prior to the ban, foreigners have little effect on the market. Maybe foreign buyers have found a loop hole, cousins already here could buy property for them etc etc. Do you think the reserve bank interest rate cut played a part? I don't follow mortgage interest rates but the article you linked discusses improved affordability which in this day and age means lower mortgage rates. Although dropping interest rates so people can take on even more debt doesn't sound like great news to me.

Kiwibuild, not sure where this is at, over promised, under delivered, I would imagine this would take a while to get systems going for a project of this scale. Haven't heard anything lately so assume it is a disaster.

I guess the question is whether you believe in Labour's interventionist approach or National's hands off approach whereby National could see no housing crisis and expected the markets would work it all out much better than a central government. People take responsibility for themselves and if they can't keep up with wealthy Chinese buyers in the Auckland housing market they could work something else out, like renting.
The markets would have sorted something else out by now for better or worse but this is pointless speculation as National lost the election.

No party is proposing to get rid of inflation targeting which in many ways I believe is a large part of the problem.

[Joshuatree]

Not forgetting we were 70,000 plus houses plus short when the new Govt arrived.John Key"There is no housing crisis".

[iceman]

The new Government that promised to fix it all quickly but in 2 years have achieved none of it. To the contrary the so called “housing crisis” continues to get worse

[Balance]

Not forgetting we were 70,000 plus houses plus short when the new Govt arrived.John Key"There is no housing crisis".

Whatever it was, Jacinda was going to fix the problem double-quick - "Let's Do This' remember?

So why has the problem got worse?

Surely it should have gotten better with the initiatives she promised, Kiwibuild, CGT and banning overseas buyers?

What happened?

[artemis]

Not forgetting we were 70,000 plus houses plus short when the new Govt arrived.John Key"There is no housing crisis".

Where are all those 70,000 households living? Say 200,000 individuals. Even accounting for a few sleeping rough and those in motels, most are living somewhere.

New Zealand has a wide definition of homeless, including households temporarily sharing with family or friends. But even counting those (and that is at least partly debatable) comes nowhere near 70,000.

I do agree there is a crisis though, and much of it is due to the cumulative effect of tens of thousands of tenant names published each year by the Tenancy Tribunal for breaches, mainly rent arrears and/or damage. Most landlords are not stupid.