Media release: Doing business in New Zealand has just become riskier

Tuesday’s announcement of new housing policies from the Government has just made New Zealand a far riskier place to do business, warns a policy paper released today by The New Zealand Initiative. A risky place to do business, written by Dr Eric Crampton and Dr Bryce Wilkinson does not assess the effects of these policies, rather it warns of the consequences of this approach to policy-making. Read more

Media release
26 March, 2021

Media Release: Climate Change Commission shows economic transformation is unnecessary

The Climate Change Commission has made no convincing case for its sweeping economic reforms to reduce emissions, says Matt Burgess, Senior Economist at The New Zealand Initiative. Analysis by the Climate Change Commission shows current policies, including the Emissions Trading Scheme (“ETS”), will deliver New Zealand’s emissions targets. Read more

Media release
26 March, 2021
Building house

Leonard Hong and Bernard Hickey discuss 'The Need to Build'

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

Webinar
8 March, 2021
Agreement v2

Housing crisis tip of the iceberg: report

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

Radio NZ - Nine to Noon
2 March, 2021

Media release: Government’s planned Pharmac review a sideshow

The Government’s announcement of a review into Pharmac declares that its budget, and the total amount allocated to pharmaceuticals, will be out of scope. This ignores the most serious weakness with current arrangements: that no one really knows whether they are improving health outcomes, let alone the well-being of New Zealanders, according to a substantial report, Pharmac: The right prescription? Read more

Media release
2 March, 2021

Media release: ​New report highlights how our housing crisis could worsen if we don’t act now

Wellington, 22 February 2021 – If New Zealand politicians thought the housing crisis in 2020 was bad, the worst is yet to come, warns a new report by The New Zealand Initiative. In The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand, Research Assistant Leonard Hong modelled 36 scenarios and found that New Zealand’s population gets older and larger by 2038. Read more

Media release
23 February, 2021
Building house

Leonard Hong explains the need to build if we want to fix the housing crisis

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

Radio New Zealand - Morning Report
23 February, 2021
Key in door housing

New report says the current housing crisis is the tip of the iceberg

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

The AM Show
23 February, 2021

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