Leonard Hong is a Research Assistant with The New Zealand Initiative and has written research notes on East Asian nations’ Covid-19 containment responses. In 2019, he completed his BA/BCom conjoint degree at The University of Auckland majoring in Politics & International Relations, History, Economics, and International Business. Before joining the Initiative, he was a research intern at The Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney working on economic, cultural and global affairs.
Leonard is a member of the National Unification Advisory Council, a constitutional agency advocating Korean Reunification. He is also a 2020 Prime Minister’s Scholar for Latin America, and a Youth Councillor with the US Embassy.
Latest reports:
The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand (2021)
Research Note: Lessons from East Asia's Covid-19 Containment (2020)
Research Note: Lessons from Abroad: Taiwan's Covid-19 Containment Model (2020)
Research Note: Lessons from abroad: South Korea's Covid-19 containment model (2020)
Research Note: Lessons from abroad: Singapore’s Covid-19 containment model (2020)
Scroll down to read the rest of Leonard's work.
Phone: 04 499 0790
Recently, you have been really responsible with your finances. You stopped buying chicken paninis, cut back on the flat whites, and eating out at KFC. Read more
Research Assistant Leonard Hong joined Bernard Hickey for an interview to discuss his latest report, The Need to Build: Demographic drivers of the housing market. In the report, Leonard Hong modelled 36 scenarios and found that New Zealand's population gets older and larger by 2038. Read more
Humans are complicated. We are intelligent species that dominated the world with our knowledge and brilliance. Read more
The nationwide housing shortage and soaring prices are only going to get worse. Leonard Hong, author of our The Need to Build report, tells Kathryn Ryan on Radio NZ that demand-side solutions such as the bright-line test are just tinkering around the edges. Read more
Last week’s Covid cases in Auckland delayed Finance Minister Robertson’s housing policy announcements. The housing shortage has been at crisis levels for a long time, but the delay in this case is not likely to make any difference. Read more
The political ‘buck passing’ of the responsibility for unaffordable housing by successive governments in New Zealand has created extremely expensive housing markets in cities such as Auckland and Wellington – and a national housing crisis. Auckland is the sixth least affordable city among 92 major global housing markets, according to the 2020 Demographia housing survey. Read more
If New Zealand politicians thought the housing crisis in 2020 was bad, the worst is yet to come, warns the Initiative's latest report, The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand. In this podcast, Oliver Hartwich speaks with report author, Research Assistant Leonard Hong, who explains the implications of these demographic changes (e.g. Read more
In his new report, The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand, Leonard Hong highlights New Zealand's housing crisis and explains why it is imperative to build now and to build fast. He spoke on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report about how demographic changes (such as population growth, ageing, and birth rates) mean that New Zealand will need far more dwellings than are currently being built. Read more
We are not building enough to meet the looming demographic changes and demands. In his interview on The AM Show, Leonard Hong highlighted findings from his report, The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand, which says policymakers should stop blaming the housing crisis on migration and speculation and instead find policy solutions to free up urban development and housing supply. Read more
Leonard Hong discusses the findings of his new report "The Need to build - the demographic drivers of housing demand" with Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB. He explains that with New Zealand's population changes, we need to be build close to 20,000 dwellings annually for the next 20 years (even with zero net migration). Read more
Against the predictions of most economists early last year, the housing market has boomed through Covid-19. Since March last year, house prices have risen by 20%, rents by 12%. Read more
Everyone knows that the status quo with respect to housing is “unsustainable”. The Prime Minister now seems to recognise the need for fundamental change and the opposition has recently offered to work with the government to find non-partisan solutions. Read more
New Zealand’s housing is a national catastrophe. House prices have gone up by 37% nationally since 2015, according to ANZ. Read more
These days, even the German army cannot afford to neglect its green credentials. Pity if that’s the only thing it is good at. Read more
Winston Peters will exit politics for the third time in his career. I spotted his ghost at Parliament the other day. Read more