Is this the solution to Auckland's housing availiblity/affordablity crisis?

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Nick Smith is full of shit....just like YOU.


It's interesting to note that on Radio NZ National's Nine to Noon programme this morning, even that rabid Nats apologist Matthew Hooten was totally rubbishing Nick Smith's bullshit. I guess this shows that Matthew Hooten does have a bit of intelligence after all, unlike that reality idiot who has the mental capacity of a bucket of sawdust.

• To listen to Matthew Hooten rubbishing Nick Smith's RMA bullshit, CLICK HERE.

[reality]

 ..the good thing about having a majority govt

Government has numbers to pass RMA vote

HAMISH RUTHERFORD

Last updated 14:24, January 20 2015


The government can already rely on a bare majority to push through changes environmental legislation, as battle lines are drawn ahead of a speech by Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith.

In an annual speech to the Nelson Rotary Club on Wednesday, Smith will outline the likely changes National will propose to the Resource Management Act.

During the last term electoral term National proposed changes to the section of the act relating to the principles of the legislation, which critics claimed favoured economic development.

It failed to bring it before the House, after both United Future and the Maori Party warned they would not support it.

Even before Smith has announced his plans, which are expected to show both the government's approach and the timing, two of National's government partners have already indicated a similar stance to last year.

David Seymour, the MP for Epsom and the ACT Party's sole Member of Parliament said reform of the RMA was "extremely urgent" if cities were to be allowed to grow and more affordable housing made available.

"There's a strong anti-development bias running through it [the RMA] and of course councils are required to follow the RMA when making their plans and giving consents, so that flows through to a bias against cities growing and providing the supply of housing that younger New Zealanders need to come on stream."

National's 60 MPs means that with the support of Seymour it has the smallest possible majority needed to pass legislation.

United Future's leader Peter Dunne, the MP for Ohariu, said pushing through changes with a bare majority on such a key piece of legislation would sent the wrong signal.

Dunne has signalled that he will not support changes to the legislation which he says could undermine the environmental elements of the legislation. To do so would turn the legislation "developers' charter" Dunne warned today.
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"By tampering with the principles you simply relegate the act and environmental concerns to simply being another part of the process, not the bedrock on which development should occur," Dunne said.

Yesterday Smith gave little detail about whether he planned to propose changes to the principals sections of the act, but signalled a plan to improve the process for residential construction.

"There is no question that the Resource Management Act is not working in delivering New Zealanders affordable housing, particularly in places like Auckland," Smith said on Monday.

Labour has maintained a wait and see approach ahead of seeing the government's plans.

Leader Andrew Little said there were problems with the current RMA in terms of its impact on housing affordability, but the party did not want to see environmental protections weakened, or undermine the input of local communities.



 - Stuff

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

..the good thing about having a majority govt

Government has numbers to pass RMA vote

....and the next Labour/Greens government will have the numbers to REPEAL Nick Smith's bullshit amendment to the RMA.

And don't forget that the Resource Amendment Act was originally introduced into Parliament and passed into law by the Nats, with Nick Smith being the minister whose name is on the bottom of the RMA. So you are admitting that the Nats fucked-up when they enacted the RMA into law? Otherwise, why would they need to change it?

Perhaps the Nats are stupid like you?

[reality]

".......and the next Labour/Greens government"


...hahaha...yes...when exactly is that going to be...you must be getting tired if waiting

Its the sign of very competent management that the National govt are always looking to make improvements to laws..even laws that they have introduced ..that is logical...dont know about Musturton..

You are now entering Musturton..please turn your watches back 100 years

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

So now you not only have imaginary friends and an imaginary job, but you write about imaginary places?

There doesn't appear to be any such place as Musturton....GOOGLE certainly cannot locate it.

Therefore it must be a delusion inside your head....just like your “pretend job” is a delusion.

Oh well, you could always move back to Australia....at least that place is REAL.

[reality]

100% Pure NZ...with the Rock Star Economy..the only place to be

..mmm perhaps try and update your google..or perhaps try wankerville

[reality]

Study blames 'over-regulation' for house prices

12:09 PM Wednesday Jan 28, 2015

A new study out on the damaging impact of regulations on housing affordability found sky-high price rises and recommends severely restricting council planners' powers.

The study from Registered Master Builders and the Construction Strategy Group, funded by the BRANZ research levy, found what it termed over-regulation in the sector and it made many recommendations.

"The cost of providing housing is soaring. In the last 15 years, the cost of delivering a standardised new house has risen 110 per cent compared with overall cost of living rises of 44 percent," the study said.

It recommends the Government specifying and limiting the authority of council planners and wants councils to be forced to explicitly include housing affordability impacts in defining the desired character of neighbourhoods.


"A number of recommendations are proposed. These include reducing over-regulation by Central Government specifying and limiting the authority of council planners and freeing up the market," the study said.

It also wants housing designers and builders to be more diligent in complying with District Plan requirements "and not using councils as their review process" and calls on the Government to standardise conditions which trigger a resource consent requirement.

"The most costly challenges include subjective town planning requirements for subdivisions, when a resource consent is required, or changes to regulation without determining whether the benefits do indeed outweigh the costs," it said.

Little has changed since the Productivity Commission's 2011 study and recommendations on housing affordability, the study said.

Mobile users click here to read the study's executive summary.
NZ Herald

[ssweetpea]

The problem with pulling the teeth out of the RMA is that the RMA was strengthened due to thousands of leaky houses built in the 1990s.

[reality]

perhaps they could leave the teeth that relate to leaky houses  in place...and remove the teeth that relate to making housing more expensive that have no detrimental effect

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

We never used to have a problem with leaky houses in NZ.

Then the 5th Nats government pulled the plug on building regulations that enforced high standards in order to allow their rich-prick shonkey-builder mates to cut corners, and then the leaky building problem was the result.

Oh dear, those bloody incompetent Nats again (and then they started on the electricity market and we all know what happened there).

Not to worry....reality will still lick John Key's arsehole, no matter what! 

[reality]

Please post a link quoting the change to building regulations that you speak of......

..because you have been busted for being a "COMPULSIVE LIAR" and "POST ALTERER" on this site..you are probably just lying again 

[reality]

Auckland house prices may move into 'uncharted territory' in 2015

CATHERINE HARRIS
Last updated 12:21, January 29 2015



Housing got 14 per cent less affordable last year nationwide, and even a modest rise in interest rates could propel Auckland house prices into "uncharted territory," says a Massey University professor.

Rising prices and higher borrowing costs last year drove the university's index of home affordability up from 22.6 to 24.9 between August and November last year. The higher the index number the more unaffordable homes have become.

Affordability declined 14.1 per cent on an annual basis, with three quarters of the change occurring in the last three months.

The university said a key driver was the median house price, which rose more than $30,000 over the year, eclipsing the $19.35 increase in average weekly wages.

Interest rates also rose from 5.51 per cent to 5.97 per cent on average.

SITUATION GOING TO WORSEN

Researcher professor Paul Gallimore predicted people's ability to buy a house would probably further deteriorate this year.

This was in large part due to Auckland, where affordability deteriorated faster than anywhere else last year, after a post-election pick-up in the housing market.

Auckland's affordability ranking fell from 31.4 to 34.8, a decline of more than 16 per cent. Its score was still below that of the last housing boom in 2007 and 2008 when it exceeded 40, but it could soon return to or exceed those levels, said Gallimore.

"A rise in house prices of 10 per cent, with wages rising at the same pace as last year and no interest rate increases, would push it close to those peaks," he said.


If borrowing rose even a modest half a percentage point, the index would be propelled into what, for Auckland, "would be uncharted territory".

Other regions to become less affordable included Manawatu/Whanganui (down 18.8 per cent); Hawke's Bay (down 16.4 per cent), and Central Otago/Lakes District (15.4 per cent).

No region became cheaper, but the decline in affordability remained in single-digits for Wellington (7.1 per cent), Nelson/Marlborough (5.5 per cent) and Southland (7.5 per cent).

 - Stuff

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Housing got 14 per cent less affordable last year nationwide

Yep....all under those INCOMPETENT NATS too!

[ssweetpea]

A large part of the problem in Auckland is lack of land.

Changing the regulations will not create more land, just open up some land even further from the city.

The concerning part is that a large chunk of that land is our prime market gardening area. Building suburbia or carving it up into life style blocks is short sighted.

[reality]

..I know some retired people are moving north or south of Auckland, buying a house for 100k or 200k less and having a house and some spending money...not a bad option for some


Hefty rates rises crushing us, say Auckland pensioners

5:00 AM Friday Jan 30, 2015

Auckland's elderly, many on fixed incomes, are struggling to pay rates to meet the rising costs of the Super City.

In feedback to the Herald on a new 10-year budget, the elderly have been particularly vocal on the hardship they face from hefty household rates rises.

The budget is proposing household increases of 5.6 per cent this year and 4.5 per cent a year thereafter.

"I am astounded and greatly angered. Do they have no sensitivity at all to the impossible squeeze this puts on those of us with a fixed income?" said retiree David Simpson.

Said Alf Goulder: "We pensioners cannot find the money to pay all these rates and services."

Bryan Gaudin: "The pension does not allow us to live in Auckland with these sort of cost increases."


The budget papers say that as Auckland's population ages "an increasing proportion will ... be more reliant on fixed incomes to absorb increased costs of services".

The statement was made in the context of a growing demand for infrastructure and the ability of different groups to pay the costs.

There are 163,158 people in Auckland aged 65 or over, according to the 2013 Census figures, about 11 per cent of the population.

The budget also targets the council's 1400 pensioner housing tenants with a proposed average 20 per cent rent increase to help solve its financial squeeze. Increases will be capped at $15 a week each year.

Bill Rayner, the Auckland region director of Grey Power, said rising rates were impacting on the elderly, particularly those relying on the fortnightly pension of $733.88 for a single person and $1129.04 for a married couple.

"The seniors of the city have paid their dues, built a major part of the existing infrastructure, and this contribution needs to be recognised, and relief given from the constantly rising rates that are basically for the growth of the city," he said.

Mr Rayner said the pension, which was tied to inflation (currently 0.8 per cent) could not keep pace with rates rises.

Water price increases of 2.5 per cent over the next two years and rising electricity costs were also eating into pensioners' incomes, he said.

Mr Rayner said Grey Power had suggested the council provide "meaningful" rates relief for the elderly, such as a grandfather clause to cap rates at aged 65 for those who have paid rates for 20 years.

Another suggestion was to increase the Government-funded rates rebate of up to $605.

Mayor Len Brown said he had always been concerned that the elderly community was not taking full advantage of measures to reduce the impact of rates increases, including the rates rebate which only one-in-three eligible people apply for.

He said for people who may not qualify for the rates rebate, the council offered a rates postponement scheme for a proportion of rates until the sale of the property.

Auckland's ageing population
1996:109,950.
2001:115,851.
2006:128,541.
2013:163,158.

- Source: Census figures for 65 years and over

Couple mull straitened retirement

Tony and Mary Price. Photo / Nick Reed
Tony Price is like a lot of people easing out of work and into retirement.

The 67-year-old technologist and his wife Mary are arranging their living and finances, which will reduce from $90,000 a year once they both put their feet up. The couple are making sure their Pt Chevalier house is in good repair to minimise maintenance costs and thinking carefully about adjusting to a lower fixed income.

The Prices' rates have risen 24 per cent in the past three years and they say the proposed increase of 5.6 per cent is a blow, particularly because they are less likely to reap the benefits of new infrastructure investment. Mr Price said if rates kept rising, even at 3 or 4 per cent, it would be difficult to economise, especially with the rising costs of water and electricity.

By the time he is in his early 70s, he estimates his income will be down to the pension and a bit of interest from savings.

"I think it would be extremely difficult to live in Auckland on a married pension."

- NZ Herald

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Who'd want to live in Auckland, eh?

For the cost of a cheapo do-upper in Auckland, I could purchase a lifestyle block of several acres with a flash house, a swimming pool, heaps of sheds, etc, that would cost many millions in Auckland. Personally, I prefer to live in town, close to the downtown shopping area (just down the end of my one-block street), which means my housing costs are but a mere pittance compared with Auckland. The rates are bugger-all too.

I have heaps of open space all around me, including open countryside, rivers & lakes, mountain ranges & native forests.

Yet the big-city ammenities and cultural & sporting events are only a short train ride (or drive) away on the other side of the ranges.

Yet I have a job with a six-figure annual wage, the same as if I was doing the same job in Auckland without all the expense of living in Auckland.

I KNOW I'm heaps better off where I am than living in Auckland, or any other big city.

[reality]

Congratulations on owning an abode worth a "mere pittance"....you must be so proud😜

"I KNOW I'm heaps better off where I am than living in Auckland, or any other big city."

....and Aucklanders are also "heaps better off" that you don't live in Auckland.....

...ain't it great when everybody wins😀

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

The best thing of all about living in Whakaoriori is that YOU don't live here.

The folks around here are very intolerant of WANKERS, so you wouldn't really fit in.

And I forgot to mention....we don't have a single set of traffic lights anywhere in my province. Absolute bliss!

Big-city wages combined with dirt-cheap provincial living costs is awesome. I feel sorry for those suckers in Auckland.

[ssweetpea]

When the last kid leaves home or school we plan to cash in our modest Auckland house and leave town. We can smell that goal approaching - it is only 5 to 10 years off max. Sp3 is 14.

Auckland does have its good points but has way too many people for my liking.

I don't want to grow old here.



I have a quiet ironic chuckle every time I hear pensioners bemoan the rising cost of anything and mention their fixed income.

Their income is fixed - to the rate of inflation!
It goes up every year which is something the rest of us can not guarantee will happen to our own incomes.
There are plenty of people who are on incomes less than the pension when child costs are taken into account - and they aren't all on benefits.

Pensioners with big rates bills have options that are not usually available to others on low or fixed incomes. People who pay rates own their house.
Trading down to a lower value dwelling is always an option if you own your house.

[Crusader]

My parents have recently bought a 500m2 section in Invercargill for $17000 and through SIT (Southern Institute of Tech) they can have a brand new three bedroom house built onto the section for only $125000 including house movement fees. They will then look to sell it for around $250000.

We are moving to Wellington at the end of the year and will be renting for the next two years until I retire from the Air Force. Once we sell our house, we will be doing what my parents are doing too. Hopefully we can get enough cash together in that time to then purchase our home free hold where ever we end up after I leave the Air Force. We will then look to purchase a house in either CHCH or Auckland as a rental that over time will just pay itself off. The intention then is to gift it to our daughters to help them get into their own home. It won't be for free as that doesn't really teach them anything but it will be at a price that they can afford.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

While the Nats fiddle, Auckland ends up with “generation rent” … and greedy, selfish arseholes like reality take advantage of those have-nots.