The damage done to Auckland by house price inflation is starkly apparent when young couples start looking for work elsewhere once they contemplate having children.
A survey of 450 young teachers in Auckland primary and intermediate schools has found two thirds of them either leaving or thinking about leaving the city. They include just about all (94 per cent) of male teachers under the age of 35.
Male teachers are scarce in primary and intermediate schools at the best of times. In Auckland they could be near extinction if this survey by their union, the NZ Educational Institute, reflects their real intentions. It also found 40 per cent of female teachers under 30 have put off having children because of Auckland's cost of living.
High house prices and rents can be handled when a couple is childless by sharing a house with others. But when they contemplate starting a family, a house to themselves becomes imperative. It is at that point they look at leaving Auckland, and the city will be poorer on two counts. It will have lost a young family and, quite likely, some of the best young members of their profession.
Teachers will not be unusual in their response to city house prices. Police, hospitals and other public services are likely to be facing the same difficulty attracting staff with young families to Auckland or keeping them here.