BNZ economist forgets economics
BNZ’s Tony Alexander is letting down his profession with his rant against young people, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“He says boomers had it bad due to high interest rates in the ‘80s. But as an economist he should know that it’s real,
not nominal, interest rates that matter. Inflation of around 15 per cent made those interest rates far easier for home
buyers to stomach.
“The housing crisis is real. It’s not just that young people have too-high expectations or drink too many lattes. The
median house price for New Zealand went up $47,000 in the past year. You’d have had to give up 9,400 lattes (26 a day),
just to keep up with the increase.
“Tony could have acknowledged that we’re building less houses now than we were in the 1970s, when the population was far
lower. He could have accepted that the price of the median house relative to incomes is now 10 in Auckland and about 6.5
for the rest of New Zealand. Compare that with a ratio of three years’ income to buy a house in the 1980s. It’s not the
‘80s anymore, Tony.
“His focus on feng shui and cat whispering shows he’s less interested in reality than he is in perpetuating vapid
stereotypes of millennials. He should remember his qualifications before his next flippant rant against young people.”
ENDS