He's got to be joking, I live in the city and security would be their biggest issue walking past all the homeless or drunk people who ask for $1.

Bernard,

Today on stuff.co.nz
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=1062...

You wrote: The Tax Working Group found there was $213 billion invested in residential rental property that generated losses for tax purposes of more than $500 million in 2008.
This reduced tax revenues by about $200 million. Too much was being invested in property because our tax system was broken.
Without reform the economy would be handicapped by a leaching of capital and talent to countries with lower taxes.
That was when the group decided to get serious about taxing property investors.
It makes no sense to invest four times the value of the stock market in property when it seems the aim is to make a loss to avoid paying the top personal tax rate.

You miss one obvious point.

Everyone has to live somewhere, not everyone has to invest in the stock-market.
I for one never will, for the following reasons.
20 years ago the govt. told kiwi's they needed to fund their own retirement and become more entrepreneurial to boot. The stock market had just crashed, more recently finance companies have engaged in wholesale legalised theft.
The only place left for people to keep their assets secure is in property and now you are saying the govt. is envious of property owners because of the govt's. own mis-management?
Get off the grass mate. I'll move to aussie myself if the government steals my hard earned equity.

Bart Hanson says....."Get off the grass mate. I'll move to aussie myself if the government steals my hard earned equity." enjoy the trip Bart.... it just an inevitability that has to be addressed.... i've got to wear it with an open minded resignation that aside I presume you bought when things were cheap so we really can't complain too much can we! Bon Voyage and good luck.

and here i was , wally, all this time of reading your posts thinking that you were a mover and a shaker in the halls of power and a legend in your own lunchtime at all the trendy hotspots around the country...and now you 'fess up to being a greedy old baby boomer that's responsible for the downfall of this country with your selfish ways....o, the cruelty of having an image shattered !..sob !!

Serves you right for believing on the tooth fairy Rob. One can be a BB and not be old you know. I did my time in the 'halls of power' and now enjoy being outside the tent doing the deed on those inside. Still dry up your way, you old coot?

BB's will still need the big house for when the grandkids come to stay ... see baby "boom" numbers over the last few years

Too simplistic by half. Assumes a nuclear fambly situation, acting in isolation. When one thinks aboot aged parents, grandkids, and assorted waifs and strays, the choice of where and how to live is a leetle more complicated.....and then there's the Shed...

And the article also fergets the BB's with no mortgage, who have seen quite enuff of the world, ta very much, and who realise just what a great little spot NZ actually is.

"The only place left for people to keep their assets secure is in property"

Comments of this nature (and there are a lot of them here) really worry me. They will always lead to a bubble (ignoring whether we are in one now), and bubbles always pop eventually...

Both my parents and the inlaws have bought bigger homes to accommodate grandkids. My uncles and aunties are doing the same.

IanC - banks & other financial lenders have always preferred the security of property, it ain't about to change.....

As per others I think there will be varied choices made by the boomers.
However, anecdotally speaking, most of my parent's friends have moved out of their larger family homes into smaller townhouses, or into the countryside or a smaller urban area (like Kapiti).
And a large number of retirement villages are still being built which indicates that this is still a popular retirement choice.
Of course some boomers will want to (and can afford to) stay in their old suburban homes.
But despite the varied choices, I think many boomers will move out of their suburban family homes, and this wil have a flattening impact on suburban house prices. Although as Bernard says the boomers would be careful not to flood the market - if oversupply of suburban homes occured and prices droped, there would be self regulation as boomers would delay their move.

shorts said:

"Both my parents and the inlaws have bought bigger homes to accommodate grandkids. My uncles and aunties are doing the same."

Are you meaning the bigger homes have been bought to permanelty accommodate family, or to have spare rooms so that when family come to stay from wide and far they have a place to stay?

I think the fact that so many boomers will have children living in other places in NZ or around the world will limit moves to 2 bedroom apartments. My parents want to keep their 3 bedroom townhouse in Wgtn, so that my family can stay with them when we visit, and likewise my brother's family when they visit from Europe

Murray, John... so is what has happened in the USA an aberation, never to be repeated?

Logical Dave
I agree retention of an area's character is important, the big question is how far do you go in terms of protecting character?
A large 4 level apartment block in a predominantly 1/2 storey residential area, generating large amounts of traffic etc is likely to devastate an area's character

But to me, at least, back section infill has limited impacts. Sure it has some impact, but the costs of preventing (economic / housing affordability / environmental) are likely to outweigh the benefits. As far as I am concerned, if you are living in Auckland you must acknowledge you are living in a city, you can't expect a countryside like ambience.

this matter is very subjective, personally as an architect I find areas with infill interesting, because there is usually a great diversity of building styles and interventions. To me that is interesting. To others, who value conformity and uniformity, it is messy.

Matt- do a trademe search on Riverglen Estate in Pakuranga. These have been on the market for 4 years. Starting price was $750K down to $599K. The inlaws lived next door when they were being built so we have been watching the steady decline in asking price.

I dont agree with BG...not about apartments....as someone else said there are maintenance fees are these are un-controllable and way over-priced....I do think BBs will move out of their big homes into smaller and/or retirement villages, I know older ppl who are doing just that in the last few years....the BBs are not dumb by and large, Im sure they can see the ripoffs...indeed their older siblings or parents might well have suffered from costs associated with apartments, I know friends of my parents did....once bitten twice shy....So I agree with BH....they also wont accept losing paper wealth immediately but sooner or later yes they will...hmm also I wonder how many of the BBs who like apartments have these as investments already? maybe renting them out today with the view of moving in on retirement? so many variables...

One of the interesting ones could be the reverse mortgage...not sell the McMansion but get an income off the large property which goes to the mortgage holder on death....now given that house prices I think will drop severly that could be a good deal for a BB, assuming the mortgage holder isnt that wise....and if the BB accepts/decides that the house price could drop 40%....

regards

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/Residential-property/Houses-f...

Good idea to keep us BB's looking after huge gardens (preferably on a slope)
I'd rather keel over in the cucumbers than end up in Eventide Home.
Sorry we are going to be such a problem to all you young things...it wasn't our fault really ...it was just that our parents got carried away with hearts full of hope after WW2 and bred like rabbits!

I don't even like cucumbers , but I'd rather peg out amongst the murderous little green pricks , than fade away in a high-rise , or in Sunny-View Retirement Hovels .

Remember Marlon Brando in the " Godfather " movie : Splatter yourself all over the tomatoes ; scare the shit out of the family , all that juice on yer , they'll assume it was a " hit " . Go out with a smile !

Nah - oldies would not like the huge ground rent and body corp fees in the Viaduct apartments!

"see the self centred nature of the younger generation as a whole."

I know plenty of BBs who are very self centred...

You should hear how many BBs I have heard bitching and moaning about a possible land tax in recent days!

And "stuff the pensioners" who will apparently be "hit hard" by a land tax. Its like all us Gen X and Y are sooooo lucky....entering the housing market with incredibly overvalued prices, needing student loans to get through uni etc.

OK, expect very little to change with those with the power and money continue to cream the benefits. Stuff the future!!!!!

@Matt in Auck - it NOT the BB's verses Gen X &/or Y... It's the People verses the 'Money Printers'.

The lack affordability you lament is largely the product excessive Money/Credit Creation and the relaxation of Deposit requirements.

Q: Will a Land tax fix that, or just address the symptoms of that ?

Well it's now offical......... No Capital Gains Tax to be introduced....that potato is just tooooooo hot. But if your into Lacq's hold on to your inconto pants cause thier gonna make you sh.t.
Hey ho hey ho another brilliant year awaits us guffaw guffaw..... no sign of bolly for a while, things must be good or Bill's lost the pump again.

Brian Gaynor is just a typical wishful thinking lefty utopian doing a smokescreen for his fellow travellers in Urban Planning irrespctive of the damage their ideas are doing to people and the whole economy.