New Zealand has become one of the most unaffordable countries in the world for housing. If you don’t own a house now you must be wondering how you will ever get into property ownership.
Nothing has been done in nearly six years to turn this around. That’s because it is part of National’s plan. The Prime Minister is dismissive about the housing crisis and deliberately out of touch with reality.
Many Kiwis can no longer rely on their wage stretching far enough to cover the household expenses let alone payments on a housing loan, that’s if anyone can actually find a home to buy in the crowded buyers’ market.
But John Key and his government are content to be “out of touch” – because a low-waged economy is part of their plan.
Wage earners try to cope with ever increasing prices - in the last year milk has gone up 11 per cent and cheese 8 per cent – on wages that have stalled.
Massive immigration and more workers seeking jobs is keeping wages low.
Low wages make for bigger profits for its wealthy mates, the big foreign corporations who bundle up their Kiwi takings and send them overseas.
The Reserve Bank now says it is on guard as it watches immigration numbers. It admits immigration might need to be hit on the head, which New Zealand First has been saying for a long time, but fine tuning will be hard.
Official interest rates have just been put up by the Reserve Bank pushing interest payments on home loans up. Expect more this year and next year.
Kiwis now have to find more and more from their slim wage packets because National’s management of the economy has been a failure.
If the migration boom gets stronger, the bank warns house prices will go up, and interest rates could go up faster.
Let’s give the thumbs down to National’s massive immigration, low wages, and a ‘who cares about housing prices’ attitude.
New Zealand First will cut immigration, and opt for smart and focused skilled immigration.
We’ll give the Reserve Bank the levers to steer the economy in the interests of every Kiwi, wage earners and businesses alike, and not in the interests of those who are velcroed to foreign corporations plundering our country’s resources.