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
There are calls for the Government to ease building restrictions if we want even a chance of fixing the housing crisis. The New Zealand Initiative report "The need to build - the demographic drivers of housing demand" shows population growth will require an extra 30-thousand homes per year. 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
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
“Demography is destiny”, as French sociologist Auguste Comte once put it. Few developments shape our society more than the composition, the age and size of our population. 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
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
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
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
Urban land use planning systems that load councils with the costs of urban growth while letting councils decide whether new housing can be built are a recipe for failure. This underpins a decade of low build rates, a substantial housing shortage, and skyrocketing house prices. Read more
New, accurate, and rapid saliva-based PCR testing for Covid-19 has started to be used in New Zealand, after being validated by the University of Illinois in 2020. The New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist, Dr Eric Crampton, and Rako Science Executive Director, Leon Grice, discuss the benefits of this test and how it makes daily testing possible for those who work at the New Zealand border. Read more
In this week's podcast, Senior Economist Matt Burgess provides an update on the Climate Change Commission's draft emissions report. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
In Greek mythology, Hercules was tasked with slaying Hydra, a gigantic and deadly water snake. Hydra had multiple heads. Read more
A couple of weeks ago, in this place, I wrote about my humbling experience playing the new politics simulation Democracy 4. Running a country successfully and getting re-elected were near impossible tasks, I concluded. Read more
Daily testing for everyone involved in the border system was always ideal, though it took rather some time for the government to come around to that view. It looks like daily Covid testing will soon be part of the border regimen. Read more