House prices unafordable for NZers

It is becoming obvious that New Zealanders are living in a country that is becoming the target for foreigners wanting to buy up houses and thereby forcing the prices up for NZers. The fact that many Chinese buyers are coming into NZ and attending auctions with lots of money to spend is putting huge pressure on NZers. It goes without saying that the bourgeoning middle classes and rich in China vastly outnumber and outmanoeuvre NZers when it comes to bidding, especially in the Auckland area.

It has to be said that this is putting NZ citizens in the position of being unable to compete against such practises. When I brought my first house, no such impediments existed. Auctions were not as common, but now they seem to be dominating the sales process. Prices are now at the point where people are paying over a million dollars for houses that clearly need a lot of work done. Yes, these houses are in the inner suburbs of Auckland, but that does not take away the fact that the mat is been taken from under our feet.

It is going to take a brave Government or political party (other than NZ First) that is going to ask the hard questions or put this all out there for us to discuss as a nation.

 In a sense our independence as a nation is being brought out from under us and we seem to be unable to do anything about it. We do not want to be or appear to be racists and we need to have good relationships with the world’s second biggest economy, but surely we need to address the problem of affordability in our own nation.

We have embraced the notion of the ‘free market,’ so any interference in the ‘market’ is frowned upon. OK, but let’s have an even playing field. Are we Able to go to China and buy houses and land? I think not. Why can we not have reciprocal arrangements with nations whereby ‘if they want to be able to enter our markets to the point of owing houses and land,’ then we need to be able to do the same in their countries? Even then, we may not be able to compete, so maybe we need to weigh the odds and make them more favourable to our citizens. If we do not address this issue now, we are going to be dispossessed I n our own land. Does that not sound familiar as a factor in our own history?