Auckland housing crisis meet London housing crisis. What those Kiwi expats living in London would give to trade the property headaches of London with those of Auckland city! This begs the question – why do so many Kiwis still flock to London when the prosperous and beautiful Auckland offers such a better way of life?
Most economic experts agree, the problem in Auckland is the shortage in the supply of houses – there simply isn’t enough houses being built to meet demand. However, this problem isn’t unique to Auckland: most major cities of the 21st century face the same ongoing supply issue, in part because large and economically vibrant cities are magnets for international and domestic migration (which is a good thing, by the way.)
In the city of London, those illustrious stacks of red bricks that comprise homes are essentially large stacks of cash. If you own a property in London, you are set for life. Londoners spend, on average, three-fifths of their monthly income on rent alone. Tenants can be subjected to haphazard short-term contracts; sharp increases in rent, or their overseas landlord from Dubai suddenly deciding to sell because the value has shot up. Simply put, it’s a landlord’s world.
Living in London, there are certain things one accepts as normal life: two hours – if you’re lucky – squashed on the underground tube to get to and from work, a small room rented at double the price of most rooms in Auckland or Wellington, no backyard or terrace, and neighbours so close that you can’t help overhearing things that one normally shouldn’t be exposed to.
Yes Covent Garden and Regent Streets are exciting and London pub life is always a hoot but at what cost? 3 hour bus journey home, a sky that forever covers you in a dreary and uninspiring grey and the closest beach being the river Thames – which is somewhat laughable in comparison to Auckland’s stretch of beaches and sailboats on the balmy harbour waters.
And it’s not just the aesthetic pleasures of Auckland that outperform London. Economic opportunity is arguably just as good and Kiwi businesses tend to be less aristocratic and bureaucratic than their British counterparts – providing ladders of opportunity for ambitious Millennials.
At times, lying in bed listening to the every-seven-minute aircraft fly directly over your flat on its route to Heathrow International, you should consider what luxury villa you could rent in Auckland – next to a sparkling seascape – for the same price that you pay for your cramped shared flat in London.