Bouyant Rural Towns

[ermat]

Just an observation. I am based in the central north island. Cant help but notice positive changes in many rural nz towns that for as long back as I can remember have been very quiet locations. I suspect Aucklanders spreading their wings is the main reason. Anyway it is great to see some of these places finally waking up, for decades many rural towns were dull, at least from my perspective.

[Perry]

Dull? Or economically stagnant?

No jobs was usually a significant cause of decline.

[McDuck]

Just an observation. I am based in the central north island. Cant help but notice positive changes in many rural nz towns that for as long back as I can remember have been very quiet locations. I suspect Aucklanders spreading their wings is the main reason. Anyway it is great to see some of these places finally waking up, for decades many rural towns were dull, at least from my perspective.

Yes.

I know several people who have relocated to small towns.

I'm not sure if It's sustainable though.
The money was earnt and saved in the big city.
The skills and connections were gained in the big city.
In the cases of computer type work, the job is still a big city job done remotely.

Once the big city momentum blows off, those people wont be able to add to that local economy in a sustainable way.


Ideally you want local solutions to local problems.
(Works best for feedback and control).

[ermat]

Dull? Or economically stagnant?

No jobs was usually a significant cause of decline.

Yes. So what has trigered the change. Jobs ? It seems for some they have just hit critical mass.

[sidinz]

One of the problems in the South Waikato at least, is a dire shortage of housing. They recently announced a programme to revitalise the area with new indutries, but how will it succeed if there's nowhere for the new employees to live?

[Perry]

. . . but how will it succeed if there's nowhere for the new employees to live?

Dhil Twitford will come charging over the hill, just like the cavalry, followed by hundreds self-erecting, pre-fabricated houses.

All as part of loony Labour's ten-thousand-new-homes-a-year plan, you understand?

And affordable ones they be, at that!

What you say? Infrastructure?

Water and sewer connections?

Killjoy!

Dream stealer!

[sidinz]

The thing is, rents and building costs in smaller areas are so out of kilter that no one's going to want to build new rental housing stock.

[Perry]

But the gummint (with the bottomless pockets of hapless taxpayers to dip in to) does not have to worry itself about the same criteria as private LLs.

[ermat]

Yes.

I know several people who have relocated to small towns.

I'm not sure if It's sustainable though.
The money was earnt and saved in the big city.
The skills and connections were gained in the big city.
In the cases of computer type work, the job is still a big city job done remotely.

Once the big city momentum blows off, those people wont be able to add to that local economy in a sustainable way.


Ideally you want local solutions to local problems.
(Works best for feedback and control).

So my view that some towns appear to have hit critical mass may not be enough to sustain them going forward ?
You could argue that the new cashed up arrivals have moved in permanently (they probably could not afford to go back where they came from, not that they would want to) and potentially have enough $ behind then to sustain the new lifestyle. Hence pumping new cash into the old town on an ongoing basis.
From my local experience I'm refering to towns like Coromandel Thames, waihi, Katikati, Matamata.

[McDuck]

That is very perceptive.
As you know, the future is unwritten.*

The way I try an understand it, is to consider a small town as a kind of business.
What does it produce, how skilled are the workers, how tight is the organization and accounting? etc..
it's a holistic view.

I guess it varies with each town and year.
It's possible say, for a carrot producing town to increase its population by double, as long as the world needs twice as many carrots.
If the world suddenly could get cheap carrots from the south pole say (for some strange reason), then your town may have a sustainability problem.

I guess, if that group of people were organised and smart enough to turn their excess carrot production into say, I don't know, vegetable oil fuel to sell to another market, you might be back in the sustainable zone.

But you have to be careful to observe the invisibles too.
There could be an invisible drain on the towns profitability.

Say there is a government or king or banker (or other country) draining the money away.
It could be a high tax rate, or lots of loans, or a large foreign power buying up and taking the profit from your primary industry.
So you need to consider that as well.

[Meehole]

There are a lot of baby boomers, current and soon to be moving out of Auckland and buying in the regions. How much income do they bring in to the area? Not alot I would say. They have their living costs but they aren't working and so therefor not contributing in that sense to the economy.
However having said that, experience in both Hawkes Bay and Whangarei currently are experiencing a shortage in the trades, which is just as well as there are a lot of tradeys moving out of Auckland to get work.

[Chris W]

Just an observation. I am based in the central north island. Cant help but notice positive changes in many rural nz towns that for as long back as I can remember have been very quiet locations. I suspect Aucklanders spreading their wings is the main reason. Anyway it is great to see some of these places finally waking up, for decades many rural towns were dull, at least from my perspective.

Is the impact of property investors buying in these these rural towns having any impact?

Kawerau residential real estate has seen some dramatic price rises in recent years.