What is the housing problem? There are many problems. The first is the cost, especially in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Queenstown. In Auckland, the average price for a house is now close to $1 million. The average price has been increasing by 15% a year recently. The high cost leads to another problem: young people cannot afford to buy a house. A third problem, which perhaps is the cause of the first problem, is that there are not enough houses for sale. In fact, there are not enough houses for rent either and the 2013 census showed there were 41,000 homeless people in NZ.
Listen to Auckland Housing Market more than a year ago which blamed the problems on overseas buyers and speculators. Immigration is also another reason for the shortage of houses. The Prime Minister blames Auckland City Council for not making more land available outside the city boundary. The Council does not want the city to spread too wide because of the cost of infrastructure: underground pipes and wires, roads, buses and so on. The Prime Minister also believes the Reserve Bank could restrict the size of mortgages.
Those people who own a home are happy about the increase in house prices. Their home is now a valuable asset. When there is an election next year, these people are more likely to vote for a government that has increased their assets. However, people who are not happy could vote for another party but many young people do not vote. This is not just a NZ problem. In many western countries, young people do not seem to be interested in politics.
Vocabulary
• cannot afford (v) – do not have enough money to buy something (‘afford’ is nearly always used in the negative)
• census (n) – official count of people in a country
• blame (v) – says it’s the fault of someone else
• shortage (n) – not enough
• Reserve Bank – NZ’s central bank
• restrict (v) – limit
• mortgage (n) – money borrowed from a bank to buy a house
• asset (n) – something valuable that you own e.g. house, car
Questions
1. Do you have any suggestions for solving the housing problem?
2. Why don’t young people vote?