Here's an email sent to ENZ by a young New Zealander - it's particularly worthwhile reading for anyone bringing teenagers to New Zealand.
"I'm twenty-four years old and have a university degree in Chemistry. I've been working full time for two years and I earn $40,000 a year. I worked my way through Varsity so I'm better off than most graduates because I don't have a student loan.
I would like to be able to move out into a place of my own like my parents were able to when they were younger than me, but the prices being asked - and paid - seem incredible in Auckland, even for the most run-down ex-state housing.
I'm not that desperate to rent and make someone else wealthy.
My three pieces of advice for others like me:
(1) Study something where there's an established market - it might be the future but the demand isn't here yet.
(2) Leave to another country and get paid a reasonable amount... I'm fairly sure I'll be getting my plane ticket to go next year.
(3) I'm not sure of the maths, but paying $200,000 for a crummy and crumbling 1940's bungalow in a poor location when the average wage is around $40,000 seems ridiculous. Stay at home with mummy and daddy - they don't really want you to go anyway."
As the email suggests, housing affordability is a major issue in Auckland - as it has become in many cities internationally.
There is a bright side for young, skilled Aucklanders though - if they earn too little to buy the type of property they want in Auckland, it's possible for them to do as suggested in point 2 above - work in London or New York for three or four years and save like mad for a big deposit on a house in Auckland.
Young, skilled Londoners and New Yorkers who can't afford even a small apartment in their own cities don't have the option of following the second piece of advice. Where in the English speaking world can they go to earn two or three times more than in their home cities?
I suppose an interesting parallel is that if Londoners move Northwards within the UK they'll find fewer jobs but, if they can get a job, they'll be able to buy a better property in the North. Aucklanders can move South within New Zealand for the same.
Thank you for your thought-provoking email David.
