This year is bound to be an exciting and tumultuous one, as the first tangible effects of the long-awaited economic recovery (in growth terms) coincide with the electoral cycle. Voters can expect the nature of the election promises on both sides of the line to change substantially, with politicians emboldened by the overall uptick in economic activity. Read more

Let us play a game of spot the odd one out. Which of the following has the highest level of traffic congestion: New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Western Europe or the United States? Read more

As a homeowner, buy-to-rent investor, or property speculator, it is hard to see New Zealand's booming property market as anything but a positive development when looking through the prism of common sense. The latest round of data from QV show housing prices rose 10 per cent last year, not a bad return by any measure, but made even juicier once you factor in the tax free nature of the capital gains. Read more

Examining housing affordability in New Zealand can be an engrossing activity involving quantitative research, modelling and fact-based analysis. As such, it is easy to forget how emotionally appealing the cult of the compact city can be. Read more

Researching the housing market in New Zealand exposes you to a wide variety of ideas and different thinking. And much like Alice in Wonderland, the deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the weirder it appears to get. Read more

As someone who enjoys the fruits of New Zealand’s cinematic output, it might seem hypocritical to argue against Graeme Tuckett when he suggests we need to lift rebates on overseas film productions. In a Dominion Post editorial, he argues our film industry is struggling to compete with some countries because they offer a rebate of 25 per cent on every dollar spent, while we only offer 15 per cent. Read more

If there is any life left in one of the last demand boogeymen of the housing market, The Economist this week reminded us that there is a novel way of exorcising them, namely letting them in the front door. I am, of course, speaking of foreign buyers. Read more

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This past week has been an interesting one for The New Zealand Initiative, having taken what we think are the best housing affordability policies from abroad, and presenting them to policymakers and bureaucrats on both sides of the beltway. They either agreed or disagreed with our recommendations depending on their ideological perspective, as you would expect, and for the most part the consultation was highly constructive (at least it was for us). Read more

The argument that we need to build more homes to tackle the housing affordability crisis was underscored this week by reports that suggest loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions are having unintended – and negative – effects on the housing market. According to the Registered Master Builders Association, the number of enquiries into new homes has fallen by 30 per cent since the Reserve Bank’s limit on how much money retail banks can lend on low-equity mortgages kicked in at the start of October. Read more

Housing is shaping up to be one of the key battlegrounds in next year's election. Both National and Labour correctly sense that voters - particularly in Auckland, but in other parts of the country as well - are sufficiently fed up with the situation, and want to see the state step in and take action. Read more

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Fire the over-priced policy analysts, number crunchers and economics whizzes, because I’ve solved the housing affordability crisis. The solution is obvious: we need to ban home improvement shows. Read more

It was disappointing to see the New Zealand Wind Energy Association fire a broadside at the government this week, claiming pro-fossil fuel policy settings are leaving our economy behind in a world increasingly dominated by renewables. The opinion piece suggested we need to look to countries like Germany, which is on track to generate 30 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Read more

An obvious synonym for the United States is the word 'big'. Big cars, big houses and big business all spring to mind when you think of the country, but it is also big on drama. Read more