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Ones very own blog
Well I've never bothered blogging before but its worth a try.
"Prime Minister takes issue with house-cost findings" from the New Zealand Herald.
"An international survey that found New Zealand the least affordable country for house buyers was widely attacked yesterday and its findings questioned.
Prime Minister Helen Clark disputed conclusions from the fourth annual Demographia survey, which she said was as misleading.
She said the survey's sample of countries was too small and lacked enough European nations to have any real meaning.
The survey found New Zealand the least affordable place compared with Australia, the United States, Ireland, Canada and Britain.
It was based on a comparison between median wages and median prices."
I take issue with Aunty Helen. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out that housing prices in New Zealand are completely screwed! Who cares that the number of sample countries was too small.
The Reality is that median house prices compared to the median wage in New Zealand haspushed hoem ownership beyond the reach of average new zealanders.
"Demographia are clearly politically driven, and so to say we're worst off in the world when there's just six countries is an exaggeration," she said.
Japan, Sweden, France and Germany also had high house prices.
Her Housing Affordability Bill introduced into Parliament last month was one step being taken to solve the problem.
But she said other measures would soon be announced.
KiwiSaver, able to be used for house deposits by 2010, and the Government's Welcome Home Loan scheme, which had helped about 3000 first home buyers, were other measures already in place, she said.
Minister Maryan eh. Minister of Housing, Minister of ACC
Simplistic and didn't include stats from Japan, Sweden, France and Germany. Did it matter..???
Median wages in Japan, Sweden, France and Germany and proportionally much greater than in NZ anyway!
So what if Kiwis can in the future use their Kiwisaver funds as deposit/collateral!
What Ioata of a difference will Mr Streets future Bill make to the difference between median wages and median house prices..
Politicians are still just politicians. Ministers of Cabinet are still only Ministers of Cabinet even if they do expect that people believe their grandiose pronouncements on how the world should be.