The housing crisis is global and Auckland is in the throws of its own housing bubble. In "The Mess We're In: Auckland's Housing Bubble from a Construction Sector Perspective," AUT (Auckland University of Technology) Professor John Tookey provides an insider perspective on what this means for Auckland (and Aotearoa/NZ at large) and where so many go wrong in trying to solve housing challenges. Prof. Tookey is an expert on the construction industry, familiar with the economic and regulatory drivers for building and construction.
As a housing advocate here in the States, it was refreshing to hear someone in the construction industry say:
We cannot leave it to the market to sort out the problem, because the market will always act as the market does. As we have seen, developers will always seek first to develop the land in the most expensive suburbs with the highest demand. Builders will seek to build large, low-density houses with the highest profit margins and lowest overhead costs. House buyers will always seek to maximise the size of house on a section to maximise value for money and residual value for on-sale. Inhabitants of popular suburbs will seek to limit the numbers of new developments in order to maintain residual house values as high as possible. To summarise, all the key factors in play in the housing market are stacked in favour of the status quo and the maintenance of very high valuations on property.
Check out the rest of his article here and other interesting public policy research brought to you by AUT's The Policy Observatory.