“New Zealanders feel better about housing market”

May 22 2018, Stuff NZ headlined a story titled “New Zealanders feel better about housing market” . What I'd like to know is, does this type of report help or hinder the current housing situation in New Zealand?

Homeless and begging for help. Source: Unknown.

Stuff NZ is owned by Australian company Fairfax media and they say “confidence in the housing market wobbled when the government changed”. ASB which is owned by Commonwealth Bank Australia and is quoted possibly to give the story credibility. A survey ASB apparently conducted showed concerns had diminished regarding the NZ housing market. According to Stuff, The bank's research showed that in the three months ended May this year, a net 32 per cent of respondents thought house prices would rise over the next year.

So I guess the banks are happy about the growth of confidence in the housing market?

The thing is, does this really address the housing issues we face around the nation and why is it that Australian companies are telling us it’s all ok, just carry on with business as usual?

There seems to be a massive disconnect between banks and business reports about what’s really going on. On one hand, New Zealand is experiencing the largest numbers of homelessness ever (exceeding 40,000, Newshub, 2017) and on the other hand, overseas owned media tells us from the perspective of overseas owned banks that we can feel better about the housing market here in Aotearoa.

Thank goodness there are some media organisations telling it how it is. TV Ones, Sunday published a segment titled The Working Poor which focused on issues surrounding housing and income in NZ.

Within the report, they interviewed several people in different locations to gain an insight to the plight of their struggles in the current housing market. The reporter asked questions about their income and expenditure and ascertained that low income and high rents where symptomatic of systemic dysfunction. The housing situation combined with low incomes causes many to rely on help from community support groups and family to make ends meet. And that’s just for day to day living by the way. We’re not talking about covering extra costs for health check up’s, buying a new pair of reading glasses, needing work done on the car or an overseas holiday. Just plain and simple day to day living.

What’s going to change this folks? I’m really keen to hear ideas and solutions on this.

As the great thinker Einstein once said, “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”(brainyquote.com, 2018).

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