Many 'mum and dad' investors have turned property into a lucrative little cottage industry. Photo / 123rf
The housing problem is also tax related. It is unhealthy and anti-social that buying up homes for rentals by mums and dads has become a hobby. New Zealanders own more second homes than any other nation.
It needs to be dis-incentivised, which could be done
quite gently and then also become another source of government revenue. One way would be through a stamp duty of say 1 per cent on property of residency and 3 per cent on investment property. Another would be to disallow interest payment deductions on investment property – just to slow the frenzy. Clearly speculators are reducing the opportunities for ordinary Kiwis to own their first home. And if the government doesn't act to stop the house-investor circus it becomes part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay.
The media seem to think that, in his last days in office, Trump will pardon himself. However, to do so, Trump would have to admit that he actually committed the offences for which he wants to be pardoned. Furthermore, he would have to ask for all those other crimes he may have committed that have not yet been identified but for which he may be charged in the future to be taken into account. It seems highly unlikely that he would ever admit to having done anything wrong. After all, is he not the president who Made America GRATE Again?
Gerald Payman, Mt Albert.
Good on the Herald to report on the possibility of a legal tax regime for "investors". This tax law can be interpreted in the same way as the law for gaining advantage from criminal proceedings.
The Crown will be able to seek a High Court order restraining a person's assets if it can show reasonable grounds to believe the person benefited directly or indirectly (in that case buying and selling property). Funnily enough it was introduced by the then justice minister Phil Goff. It introduces a civil forfeiture regime that, once the court has found on the balance of probabilities that the property is the proceeds of crime, will force criminals (investors) to prove all their property is not so derived. It also updates the existing conviction-based regime.
The proof of the pudding lays with the investors, not the crown. We have all the legislation we need, but not the stamina to execute the law.
Juergen Petersen, Point Chevalier.
It is mystifying house price inflation is exempt from the RBNZ assessment of inflationary trends — their mandate price stability. However Government's decision to add full employment to their brief has sown the seeds of rising house appreciation and inequality. The Reserve Bank now endeavours to instil that "feel good" factor in the minds of house owners in the belief it will spur the economy and jobs will evolve. Capital absorbed in a house does not create jobs nor generate taxation revenue. We might instead sympathise with the productive sector, deprived of this same cheap funding, yet are the creators of jobs, true wealth and essential taxation revenue so vital for Government's agenda now that budget surpluses are a fading memory and fiscal deficits become the new reality.
P. J. Edmondson, Tauranga.
With all the things that need fixing in NZ, I would have thought that the cost of making traffic signs bilingual would be well down the list. As well, there is the safety factor; it takes more time to read and process several words than one or two. In that short space of time a car can cover quite a few metres. And how will overseas drivers, when we eventually get them again, manage? Many are at least reasonably familiar with some English words and commands, but will hesitate when confronted with words in a totally unfamiliar language, a recipe for disaster.
Di Monkley, Hamilton.
Would it help if someone explained to Donald Trump that the scoring system for elections is different from golf? For elections, it is the person with the biggest score who wins.
Keith Berman, Remuera.
Weekend Herald columnist John Roughan's assesses the Reserve Bank Governor as adding to the housing problem. In fact, his actions have been the lifeline for our recovery. If we take time to view the results of the effect of a new house, consider this:
One house requires timber, joinery, roofing, doors, plumbing, concrete, steel, electrics, kitchen, hardware, bathroom, carpet, tiles, glass, beds, furniture ... and then count the labour needed.
Each house built provides stimulates for all — it is the greatest product to provide a cash flow to benefit all manufacturers and workers.
Tell me what other industry that achieves this.
Keith May, Mellon's Bay.
Eden Park did not do its quest to stage concerts any good at Friday night's cricket game. Locals would not have been amused at the game finishing at quarter past midnight, with both children and adults having their sleep disturbed by departing patrons. I hope the owners of the stadium do not argue that the rain delays were a one-off situation, as rain is a fairly regular occurence in Auckland.
And then there was the debut of the screen — controversially paid for with $1.5m of ratepayer's money city councillors believed was earmarked for roof repairs.
Councillors and ratepayers would have been further dismayed to see the screen split into thirds, with two thirds devoted to advertising and only one third to the sporting action.
Tony Waring, Grey Lynn.
There were a disconcerting pair of items in the Weekend Herald (November 28).
On A13 was a story full of the joys of spending $1.2 million at auction for a boatshed. On pages A20-21 was a feature analysing the response in Aotearoa to the climate crisis.
How long will it be before the boatshed owners and others with high priced coastal properties are begging for compensation as their properties disappear under the waves?
The response to the climate crisis from the moneyed classes (supporting National and Act perhaps) is obviously to spend more millions and think the crisis will go away. They seem happy to ignore the science.
Judy Lawry, Golflands.
Announced at frequent intervals at Auckland airport: "the wearing of face masks is strongly encouraged". Observed: No more than 7 per cent wearing masks. What part of "strongly encouraged" does the NZ public not understand? Dear PM, stronger language is required. "Are to" and "Compulsory" are just two suggestions. Keep NZ Covid free.
Tony Lewis, Takapuna.
Warwick Elley rightly describes the importance of books and reading in schools but it is the love of them that is the greatest achievement. My father was a teacher of English, and we were surrounded by books.
But it was the cuddles that went with them every night at bed-time that absolutely cemented the wonder and importance of the written word, and the love of books. That doesn't quite come without them. I fear that many children now do not have this. That is bad, and of deeper importance than we think.
Dr Harold Coop, Remuera.
We urgently need democracy restored to Auckland City Council: the so-called Super City with CCOs run by unelected people. The various agencies are failing as evidenced by Watercare: water restrictions, Ports of Auckland operating at less than 50 per cent, the debt ceiling being exceeded . We have Auckland Transport failing to complete projects (Hurstmere Rd) and designing upgrades to create congestion against the wishes of communities. Poorly designed cycleways are not attracting users as exampled by Lake Rd. We need to bring back into control of elected representatives and abolish the failed CCO project.
Mike Single, Bayswater.
On workers
Maybe if we dropped secondary tax off seasonal part-time work it could entice a few more thousand Kiwis to pick fruit during daylight saving hours, or on the weekends. Glenn Forsyth, Taupo.
On quarantine
Send the Covid-affected, misbehaving Pakistani cricket team home. Make MIQ spaces available for the urgent needs of our NZ overseas people to return home. We don't need these sports teams creating quarantine problems and potential spread of this virus Bob Lenihan, Orewa.
On gangs
Add the gang problem along with housing to the list of issues to be managed by the Reserve Bank. More chance of it being resolved by them than by the Government. Pim Venecourt, Papamoa.
On rates
Auckland Council may have to raise rates to help cover the projected billiondollar deficit. The library is planning on new library cards. I am sure this is not good use of ratepayers' money. Greg Cave, Sunnyvale.
On mail
A letter, with a cheque, took 10 days for NZ Post to deliver 60km from Auckland to Warkworth. That is five times faster than the speed of a garden snail. Steve Goldthorpe, Warkworth.
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The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.