NZ must change how

New Zealand is a nation possessed. Aspiring to own a home has become as much a part of the national DNA as rugby, obsessing about the weather and mateship.

It’s ingrained in the cultural psyche as a rite-ofpassage.

But as the system stands, there are now so many who will never be able to buy property. So isn’t it time we learned to think differently?

We are locked in an endless conversation, focused on prices, deposits, affordability and taxes.

Value surveys, interest rate decisions and growth trends command front pages. Almost every economic decision is reported through the lens of what it will do to house prices.

Property porn has a guaranteed audience: from The Block, to Selling Sunset, through to real estate advertising dressed up as news reporting.

A home-buyer becomes a player in the market, incentivised to protect their asset value. It’s a cycle: we expect future capital gains, pushing prices higher and strengthening opposition from owners to any measures that might lead to a decline or flattening in value.

We remain addicted to property ownership in a market which is excluding more and more buyers.

The median house price hit a record high of $725,000 in October, up nearly 20 per cent in a year, fuelled by low interest rates and the removal of mortgage loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions.

But as home-ownership inches further out of reach for Generation Rent, politicians treat the booming market as a lifeboat in the recession.

A fingers-in-their-ears approach by successive governments means structural flaws in the market are entrenched.

Despite a pre-election commitment by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to remove barriers to the