Auckland's booming population

[muppet]

Hi Guys

An article in this mornings Sunday Times raises some intersting points.

The BRC Research poll for the Sunday Star-Times, reveals a staggering 82% answeredO'no' when asked if Auckland was the place they would prefer to live and work. Even Aucklanders appear fed up living in what is supposed to the country's most irresistible city.

A sub-sample of the national poll found 42% of Aucklanders say they too would rather live elsewhere.

The findings help explain a dramatic reversal in trends revealed in the last census, which found for the first time in decades Auckland was losing more people to other parts of New Zealand than it was gaining from the rest of the country.

But further down in the article John Banks Mayor of Auckland has this to say:

Banks rejected any suggestion that Auckland's growth was turning New Zealanders off, dismissing the BRC Research poll as "shonky".

"Auckland grows by the size of Dunedin every three years. Fifty new families are now moving into Auckland every week and 21 new houses are completed every day. Some people need to move to Auckland for job opportunity. I needed to move to Auckland for job opportunity. There was no one in Whangarei who would have employed me when I left parliament."

Well I wonder who is correct or are things being misreported as regards to Auckland's population growth or decline.

Regards

[graemeh]

Re: Auckland's booming population

An article in this mornings Sunday Times raises some intersting points.

The BRC Research poll for the Sunday Star-Times, reveals a staggering 82% answeredO'no' when asked if Auckland was the place they would prefer to live and work. Even Aucklanders appear fed up living in what is supposed to the country's most irresistible city.

A sub-sample of the national poll found 42% of Aucklanders say they too would rather live elsewhere.

The findings help explain a dramatic reversal in trends revealed in the last census, which found for the first time in decades Auckland was losing more people to other parts of New Zealand than it was gaining from the rest of the country.

But further down in the article John Banks Mayor of Auckland has this to say:

Banks rejected any suggestion that Auckland's growth was turning New Zealanders off, dismissing the BRC Research poll as "shonky".

"Auckland grows by the size of Dunedin every three years. Fifty new families are now moving into Auckland every week and 21 new houses are completed every day. Some people need to move to Auckland for job opportunity. I needed to move to Auckland for job opportunity. There was no one in Whangarei who would have employed me when I left parliament."

Well I wonder who is correct or are things being misreported as regards to Auckland's population growth or decline.

Regards

You've gotta love statistics. I suspect they are both right and they could be talking about the same figures even.

One explanation could be that migrants from overseas replace those that move within NZ. There is also quite a time lag from the last census so Banks could be using newer figures.

[CJ]

I would prefer to live on a tropical island and not work the rest of my life. Doesn't mean Auckland isn't a good place.

Depends how the question was asked.

[fudosan]

If more are leaving Auckland, that's good news. Perhaps I can pick up more quality properties at good prices, until the next tide comes in again.

[gish]

I guess I must be one of the 82 percenters.

My wife and I are making a permanent shift out of Akl in 3 weeks (well, 19 days 20 hours, but who's counting?).

It would have been nice to keep our house in Manurewa for long term growth, but it suits our plans better to take the money and run, so we've sold up.

Auckland has been ok, but I'm a country boy at heart, so leaving here has always been part of my plan.

The only bummer is we won't be able to afford to buy back in for 2-3 years, maybe more depending on the job situation down the line.

[westan]

Hi muppet

thats an interesting article, i hear of a lot of people who have moved to the south island in the past 18 months from Auckland, they say they want a lifestyle change, it will be interesting what the next census puts out. Anacdotaley there are more people in a lot of these so called declining towns way down in Southland and Otago like Gore, Invercargill and Balclutha where i live.
Areas like Oamaru and waimate appear popular with Aucklanders also ????

regards westan

[Spabath]

Auckland is good for a while ... so long as you've got a good job, and are young I guess it's the place to be. I reckon I've been here too long now, and do feel like moving on, but you always seem to have so much holding you down

[Glenn]

I seem to be getting a few evacuees down here also.
They feel at home in our traffic jams. The jams do not last long but have crept up on us so quickly that locals are aghast and think the world is about to end.
One Ex Aucklander accused me of over charging rent.
They commented and moaned that they could not let out their own home in Takanini for the rent that they needed to pay me. I guess they could not figure it. They had been brain washed by the Auckland media that everything was bigger, better and more expensive in Auckland. I am happy to take all that you can send us. We are short of workers of all types and the more people we have here the better are the prices I can extract from the properties. When not sitting jammed in traffic trying to go to work at 8.30 am I have been told there is a great life style here.

[janesco]

Hi all

I think you are missing the point that John Banks was making.

He said "I needed to move to Auckland for job opportunity. There was no one in Whangarei who would have employed me when I left parliament."

I suspect that no one outside of Auckland would have employed him

I spent 14 years in Auckland having arrived as a naive 24 year old country boy. All the bright lights and the fast traffic etc made it an exciting place. The trouble is it wears you down.

I believe I was right to leave for a provincial town (Wanganui or is that Whanganui I can never tell ). However a mistake I made was selling up. A lot of lost time and money was lost in the move. The property I owned at the time is now worth about $600K whereas the property I purchased when I moved into town has just been valued at 162K. Ouch

My wife has told me to get over it. It just doesn't go away. So unless you really have to sell don't.

Now as far as the the beauties outside Auckland is concerned... Well yes those beauties as well but they weren't the ones I was talking about

We have a peak traffic two minutes at the local roundabout... Boy do local people get annoyed at that.

The cost of living is amazingly cheaper. Things like insurance .. less burglaries so less claims. And the local boys in blue every now and then wander around to a particular family address in Gonville ( yes it really is a suburb) and arrest the latest member of the family that has just got out of jail.. Guess what the burglaries stop until the next member gets out. And stolen cars rarely happen. My car insurance was cut in half just by moving out of auckland. Something to do with reduced risk.

Petrol costs more but you use dramatically less. You can walk to work or school as appropriate. It takes five minutes to drive anywhere. It takes twenty minutes to walk anywhere.

My final word though is I miss the good things of Auckland especially sailing on the Waitemata. The big shows don't come to Wanganui. And as a foodie I miss the restaurants.

I don't miss the traffic, the hugh crowds and the high crime rate.


Allan S

[graemeh]

Petrol costs more but you use dramatically less. You can walk to work or school as appropriate. It takes five minutes to drive anywhere. It takes twenty minutes to walk anywhere.

If anyone wants to save on petrol, look at a fuel card with a national rate. I have one and only ever pay the lower of the pump price or the national rate. The national rate is usually about .5c below the best Wellington pump price.

Now I just laugh when I fill up in somewhere like Kaikoura where the pump price is about 9c higher than the Wellington price. The card almost pays for itself with that one stop.

Cards are available from Evia (used to be Elders), NZ Drivers Club (tied up with the magazine), NZPIA has the Caltex card and there are others out there too.

[Glenn]

Good you Allan S

I get sick and tired of "experts" (there are more of them in Auckland) Telling me that there is only one way to live or make a buck or two. that being to invest in Auckland.
I left Auckland over 30 years ago and still feel at ease in big crowds of people be it Auckland, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, or Tokyo.
When I lived in Western Japan 15 years ago the locals were aghast that I was going to drive in Tokyo. They were not happy about going to their big cities either.
It has been my experience that small town folks can adapt quicker into the big cities but the big city folks have more trouble adapting into the small cities.
It has always been the way that the likes of Auckland property prices will out strip provincial city prices in total price. I can remember back in the 60's and 70's fellow workers who had moved out of Auckland for promotion having great difficulty being able to aford to move back.
My observation has been that if they had invested in the same amount of real estate (in $ terms) then they would have been able to get back and have money to spare.
By this I mean some save and get into a house in Auckland with a big mortgage. Then when they move away they get rid of that mortgage in stead of buying say two houses. Now if you read Jan Sommers (is that the way you spell it) book this is how she did really well. One day she sat down with a calculator and realised that they were making heaps more money from property than the "good" wages they were making as hard working civil servants who had to keep moving to seek promotion and increased wages. The rate of return on the $ down becomes infinity or at least fantastic when the deposit is zero or near to it.
Obviously the issue of population growth comes into it.
If you have good population growth then the values will look after themselves. So yes this does count out those cities like Rotorua (got to give Tokoroa a break) that have not been growing for what ever reason. Shame really because I have had some fantastic holidays there over the years.
Glenn