Auckland Housing Affordability

[eri]

James Kellow: Housing won't be an election issue in 2017

Housing supply in Auckland will not be a 2017 election issue simply because a lot of the issues highlighted and debated over the past few years will be well addressed or advanced by then.

This view may not be welcomed by Opposition housing spokespeople who are trying to set the political agenda ahead of the next general election.

However one of the big things that's making a major difference are the Special Housing Areas (SHAs) that

effectively bypass normal council processes and allow for the fast-tracking of consents and construction.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11477535

would this allow

prices to fall?

as they should

given some of the crappy housing stock out there

[Perry]

Dreams Are Free

SHAs effectively bypass normal council processes and allow for the fast-tracking of consents and construction.

How effectively does it fast-track the creation of more carpenters, builders, plumbers, electricians, etc?
(Not to mention materials!)

[speights boy]

How effectively does it fast-track the creation of more carpenters, builders, plumbers, electricians, etc?

Pfft.
Not a problem.....look at the new flag we've designed for you.

Shoddy building practices rife in Auckland, building ...

Regulators step up checks of unlicensed Auckland plumbers

[BigDreamer]

Pfft.
Not a problem.....look at the new flag we've designed for you.

Shoddy building practices rife in Auckland, building ...

Regulators step up checks of unlicensed Auckland plumbers

So many new builders popping up every day in Auckland it seems. The shoddy building practices article is a real eye opener.

[speights boy]

Council inspectors encountering serious problems at some sites.

Shoddy buildings are going up in Auckland as the council struggles with "significant" quality issues including unskilled construction workers without proper supervision.

"There is a real shortage of people working in the industry at the moment in Auckland.

What we are seeing is large numbers of relatively unskilled folk coming into the market, often not supervised to the degree they need to be, and that's contributing to some of the quality issues that we are currently seeing."

Dean Kimpton, the council's chief operating officer, said in his view 1000 building consents a month was not currently possible.
"You only have a certain number of developers ... it is not just about land supply and ability to process consents."

However, Dr Smith said his advice to Auckland Council was that they needed to increase the number of inspectors.

Labour's Housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the Government "sat on its hands" three or four years ago, when they needed to increase polytech enrolments and implement a Government-backed building programme.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11459438

[speights boy]

Treasury proposed Auckland-specific housing tax to send 'dramatic signal'

Treasury has proposed charging Auckland landlords an annual tax of 1 per cent of the value of their investments to combat rising house prices, to be paid directly to Auckland Council.

The proposed Auckland Investment Levy would have charged owners a fee on the capital value of rental properties in New Zealand's largest city, where prices are rising much faster than other parts of the country.

The report from April 24 was released on Thursday by Treasury as part of a major release of Budget documents.

The documents appear to lend support to speculation that new taxes on property were hastily prepared in response to growing concern over Auckland house prices and foreign ownership, with officials saying they had only a "very short timeframe" available to respond and provide advice.

The policy could be restricted to Auckland and "perhaps could be justified on the basis of a large proportion of Auckland rental property gains being untaxed because those returns come through capital appreciation rather than rent."

"In this way the Auckland Investor Levy could be set to approximate a tax on future capital gains."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70106489/treasury-proposed-aucklandspecific-housing-tax-to-send-dramatic-signal

[Perry]

The thin end of the wedge 'solution' from a quarter epitomised by:

[Wayne]

Interesting idea.
Average house now $800k or something
So Lenny gets an extra $8k
Of course LL's will say they'll just charge the tenant more to pass it on.
Assuming that they can afford to pay!
And you all move together as a cartel.

[speights boy]

Capital gains are now obviously on the radar for both National and Labour.
Auckland specific rules are being proposed and accepted as opposed to NZ wide.
Migration is set to increase.
Supply has serious issues getting 'houses up and finished to standard'
Behind the scenes the Govt realises they have lost control

The documents appear to lend support to speculation that new taxes on property were hastily prepared in response to growing concern over Auckland house prices and foreign ownership, with officials saying they had only a "very short timeframe" available to respond and provide advice.

I am not alone on those who think AKL housing will be a major election issue.

[sidinz]

Do they not realise that many (most) of the overseas buyers pushing up prices and demand are not landlords? Auckland investors will either pass the costs on, as Wayne says, or sell up and invest in the provinces, leaving the door wide open for the Chinese to swoop in and thus take even more housing out of the market for people who want/need to rent. How can they not see that?

[speights boy]

. How can they not see that?

They can.
But they are so scared of offending China that they are prepared to jeopardise AKL Kiwi families futures in order to protect their trade figures.

[sidinz]

So they want to screw over Auckland property investors even though they know it's not us causing the problem? Choosing to throw us under the bus for no gain? Nice.

On another note, I didn't understand this bit:

The temporary tax would apply to all rentals regardless of whether they were investor properties or owner-occupied, and revenue would go to Auckland Council.

How is an owner-occupied property a rental? The only ones I can think of that might come close are apartments removed from hotel pools or that kind of thing.

How would such a tax on the capital value be applied to leasehold apartments? The capital value is made up of the land value + improvements value. They surely couldn't expect to levy PIs on land they don't own?

[speights boy]

I couldn't find the "owner-occupied" comment in the article I posted.

[sidinz]

I couldn't find the "owner-occupied" comment in the article I posted.

Sorry, I hadn't noticed that you'd quoted from the Stuff version. I quoted from the Herald's:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11478329

[PTILoveYou]

The temporary tax is total BS!