A Real Estate Agent boasts about his sales to overseas buyers

1. A shame that it included the final picture, otherwise, an informative post.,

   • Yes, it’s just lazy knee-jerk blaming.

     • Not at all, Brigid. I think it’s symbolically appropriate.

       • Frank, attributing a whole demographic with a particular belief is just silly.

   • @ Richard Christie: “A shame that it included the final picture”

     I completely agree. It’s a stereotype; many of us who were born immediately post-War are certainly not in this situation.

     Lest we forget: it was our cohort which got the worst doing-over with regard to the wholesale job losses caused by Rogernomics (brought on us, I might add, by politicians who weren’t boomers). Insult to injury, many of us lost heavily in the ’87 stock market crash. It took years for the market to recover, and for boomers to get past their leeriness of it, and by that time, we were too old to recoup what we’d lost – assuming that we’d managed to hang onto a job, or find another one after being made redundant time after time.

     Here’s the sad reality for many boomers: house in the provinces they can’t sell and can’t afford to maintain, bugger-all savings because pay rates have been so low, no private super because employers didn’t offer a scheme, or contributions weren’t transferrable from job to job. Or no savings because they got tipped out of their job when they were just that little bit mature (you know, 35 to 40) and they’ve been off and on the dole for years. If they managed to retain a share portfolio, the stock market was in a dip when they had to cash up, so they got bugger-all for their shareholding. If they had money in a managed fund, they had to watch as fund managers paid themselves large commissions to mismanage their money – which they couldn’t retrieve because it was locked in by the terms of the investment – to the point that sometimes there was less at the end than they’d put in in the first place. And then there were those who were fleeced by finance companies. All in all, not in any way the picture gen x or y seem to believe is the case. Now the final insult: if we’ve got bank deposits, we’re being paid piss-all interest on them!

     Don’t tell me that boomers are sitting high on the hog and don’t need the pension: it’s just crap.

2. The grammar and formatting is atrocious. It just shows that we are creating a one-dimensional society based on numbers alone.

   • @ Brendan: “The grammar and formatting is atrocious”

     It’s been written by somebody who doesn’t speak (or write) English as a first language. Auckland real estate agencies – some in particular – employ a great many Chinese agents, and the writer of this e-mail is one of them.

     This fact of itself is very strong evidence that the wholesale buying up of property in Auckland by overseas Chinese isn’t a myth; these agents’ job is to cater to that market.

     Moreover, overseas Chinese buying up houses in Auckland isn’t a recent phenomenon: it’s been going on for more than 25 years. When we were living there, we were in a new subdivision; real estate agents used to bring tour buses full of Chinese around our area, looking at properties for sale. Most of them were Hong Kong citizens, looking to buy a bolthole in advance of the British handover of HK to the PRC in the late 90s, in case things didn’t go well business-wise after the handover. We eventually sold to HK Chinese: to our certain knowledge, they never lived in that house. They eventually sold on a few years ago; the house had been vacant for about 15 years. I’ll bet that’s happened over and over and over again.

     The Auckland market now is the result of years and years of failure by successive lily-livered governments to put in place a series of measures to restrain wholesale property grabs by overseas residents. Don’t believe what the Real Estate Institute tells you about what’s going on there; the real estate agent is not your friend (just in case you haven’t yet realised it). They will push the market up and up and up for as long as possible, because they can, and because they make money out of NZ citizens’ misery. It is the government which must act to bring this looniness to a halt. But based on evidence to date, it won’t.

3. And in the words of Ananias in the film ‘ Jesus Christ Superstar ‘…

   ”There we have it gentlemen – what more evidence do we need? – stay awhile and we’ll see him ( them ) bleed” !!!

   And so….we have become a back street dealer nation peddling our land and assets to the highest bidder. Many of them foreigners deliberately driving up the prices to their advantage as investments and not giving a rats flying f– k about the effects on so many other people that actually have to live in this country…

   And National and their backers are complicit in selling out and shafting us and future generations.

   NZ First seems to have a few ideas about putting the brake on this rort- and don’t seem to succumb to the same pressures as Labour.

   I believe in a larger refugee quota as these are people that really need help – but I’m sorry – I also believe in a stop to exploitative foreign land ownership – and a drastic cut back on the numbers of immigrants.

   And arguing that so many immigrants are good for the country because they bring in wealth?….stop the lies please….if that was so…we wouldn’t have the appalling conditions we are in at the moment.

   • And by the way – Ananias was the bad guy in the film Jesus Christ Superstar…..a real rat bag. Simply the statement ” what more evidence do we need ?” pertains in this case to the very real facts that this country is being exploited .

     – Badly.

     • @ Wild Katipo: “Ananias was the bad guy…”

       He was one of the Pharisees. How strangely appropriate….

4. my real estate friend also says its the Chinese – they just keep upping the prices, no limits on what they bring to the auction. Some of the agents she works with only work with Chinese buyers, they don’t speak English. But that is John Key for you, what was it 56,000 more immigrants reported yesterday.

   • Immigrants from Asia who will be over-represented in every positive statistics around employment, education and health and under-represented in every negative one from domestic violence to crime.

     Yeah they will be terrible for this country!

     • Um…what was it that the Chinese govt themselves stated about wanting to extradite a large number of Chinese nationals from New Zealand ‘ because they had gotten rich through criminality ‘ ?….

       Anyway…the whole thrust of what your saying is ludicrous as this is not a beat up on Chinese but a case in point / example of how THIS country’s current political leaders encourage THIS sort of foreign investment to the detriment of New Zealanders.

       The problem is a political one and the responsibility of this atrocious state of affairs rests squarely on THIS govt’s policy’s.

       Its THAT simple.

   • @ Ontheup: “what was it 56,000 more immigrants reported yesterday.”

     Recently, Kathryn Ryan on RNZ interviewed a Chinese real estate agent working in Auckland. She told the audience guilelessly that the people she dealt with were families buying a house in which the mother and children would live while the father stayed in China doing business and making money. And oh yes, they really wanted to settle here, but in the meantime, Dad would be keeping the family from China.

     Now this isn’t new either: it was happening more than 20 years ago, and in those days, it was just as likely to be Christchurch. Moreover, often both parents went back to China (and not just Chinese; Japanese and Koreans did it too) and left the children in the care of the eldest sibling, if said child was old enough. I dealt professionally with such people – had them as neighbours, even. I’m certain that successive governments didn’t have this in mind when they talked about immigrants settling here and investing to help the economy. Yet they’ve done diddly squat to stop it. And here we are….

5. Yep look for Bomber manning the guillotine when the revolution comes. Like getting old wasn’t miserable enough who knew they would turn it into a crime?

   • SD – Your personal attack against the author of this piece suggests you have no response to his argument?

     • See below

6. Hello, a capital gains tax is not going to help locals is it, the overseas buyers don’t pay it when they buy the home!

   How about measures to stop immigrants investing in our residential property and farms? OZ does it, China does it.

   UK does not do it, and guess what massive inflation of price of houses and Uk locals are now paying $250 pounds just to rent a ROOM in London! God knows how much it actually costs to buy a place.

   Stop blaming locals as though they are the problem. It is government policy that is the problem.

   Yes a local might get more for their houses, but then they have to buy another one so not really winning unless they down size.

   Don’t make people who spent a lot of time and effort to purchase a home in Auckland the scape goats in the housing issue.

7. I am a baby boomer who is pissed of about your picture and comment above. I have worked hard for 46 years, paid my taxes and brought up 3 children. I NEVER got a super, no money left in the bank by the time I was restructured out of my job in my 60’s. My fellow workers that I had the pleasure of working with over those years had no super or perks either!!!!!
   I am lucky that I do own my own home but I have friends and know people who are still working on in their late 60’s+ who can’t afford to retire. Plus if you have worked in a hard physical job all your life you are warn out by the time you get 60. Plus after working 60 years as factory fodder shouldn’t you deserve a few years in comfort in your last years?

   • Why haven’t you received superannuation, GD?

     • No job I worked had super schemes for the grunts, Frank, only the top dogs. My wife and I live on the pension. But I did live in the NZ that has now gone. Pre 1984!

   • A young person with a similar start in life today would have all you have by the time they retire, but no house…

     That is the difference.

     Even the worst off baby-boomers have it 10 times better than the equivalent aged person in 30 years time. They will have absolutely nothing.

     • Indeed, Weepu.

       I bought my first house in 1978. Interest rates were high, but houses were generally more affordable, and Vendor’s Finance was a way to get around limited mortgage money. It was no where as difficult as it is now.

     • At least many of the younger ones today will have the memories of overseas travel and luxuries they take for granted which their parents couldn’t afford when their priority was paying off their houses. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Many of the people you refer to will have neither.

     • @ Weepu’s Beard: “Even the worst off baby-boomers have it 10 times better than the equivalent aged person in 30 years time. They will have absolutely nothing”

       Don’t blame boomers for the way the world is now. It isn’t our fault that large-scale public health measures implemented before we were born, or when we were very young, mean we now live longer, healthier lives and need the pension for longer. Don’t blame us for neo-liberalism and Rogernomics: Douglas and his mates weren’t boomers.

       Don’t blame us for the fact that Muldoon unilaterally disestablished the NZ Super Scheme, established by the Kirk Labour government. We tossed him out of power, but then we got Rogernomics – and we really had little idea of the long-term implications of it.

       Who says the retired in 30 years will have nothing? If your cohort wants to have a non-means-tested pension for when you retire, get off your collective butts and make sure it happens! Advocate with political parties for policies that will allow it to be affordable; heck, join political parties and agitate from the inside. Don’t just moan about how hard done-by you’ll be in the future. This is how women got governments to agree to set up breast and cervical screening programmes: we advocated, agitated, organised. You can do it too.

8. Actually this whole article does you little credit Bomber. I freely admit that the uncontrolled access to the Auckland real estate market by foreign nationals is short sighted and hugely inflationary however, the letter is about Botany Downs which is probably Chinese by a substantial majority but with permanent migrants not foreign nationals. This is to use one of your favourite phrases nothing more than dog whistle politics. Woe betide the poor buggers if they are both Chinese and born before 1964! Racist and ageist in one.

   • Disagree to a point….I think what Martyn is demonstrating is a case in point example of an external force exerting itself on the local market created by current govt policy.

     It matters not what country of origin.

     But to me the problem is threefold.

     1) Govt policy that leaves the door wide open for foreign nationals who DON’T care about the local effects of their actions. We still have very limp laws regarding foreigners coming here and buying up lands and farms while not even residing permanently in this country.

     But can you blame them if this govt and preceding ones were that foolish to do so?…..I cant. And also the voting public’s apathy ….though admittedly , this has been raised repeatedly and the voters have not been listened to.

     Bespeaks of a neo liberal govt agenda – similar to the sale of SOE’s to foreign nationals.
     …………………………………………………………………………………

     2) Unfettered, unbridled open slather immigration policy that lacks a realistic cap on numbers.

     We were sold the lie that NZ needed more people. More expertise. More business input. And the reason why that dubious assertion may have been the case is because of the destructive effects of neo liberal monetarism in the first place.

     In a nutshell…trained professionals aint gonna work in slave conditions for dirt cheap wages when they can do far better elsewhere. So that left a vacuum.

     Voila !…solution?…lets open the doors to a free for all immigration policy. Lets throw open the doors to all and sundry and while were at it- pass the Employment Contracts Act so that we get a ready pool of cheap labor !! Problem solved !!!

     But that ‘cheap labor’ needs somewhere to live . And most immigrants live in Auckland . And Auckland has a housing shortage and now a bubble.

     Once again. A direct result of neo liberal policy’s .

     ………………………………………………………………………………….

     3) The NZ’ers themselves.

     Part of the reason why so many people invested in housing was because of such things AS the Employment Contracts Act , – which effectively gutted wages – constant dismantling of Super schemes by incoming govt’s …..and the constant refrain by the likes of Jenny Shipley and Co to build a retirement plan that was not based on the govt pension.

     In other words – people became fearful for their older years and started looking at investment. And one of the advantages of property is that it can be built on with equity …or sold off if needed to realize instant cash.

     So it became a natural thing for Kiwis to look for ways to avoid being a pauper in old age.

     Yet again ….a direct result of the neo liberal policy and ideology’s.

     …………………………………………………………………………………..

     So we see now,…that the REAL perpetrators of all of this ISN’T the Chinese , it ISN’T the NZer’s , and ISN’T directly the immigrants.

     What it IS …is 35 long years of neo liberal ideology that has pitted Nzer against Nzer using divisive policy’s that not only cause fear and division among the New Zealanders themselves – but use policy’s designed to exacerbate those fears , weaken our economic strength , and impoverish this country enough to dismantle the welfare state in readiness for the complete free market takeover by such mechanisms as the TTPA , TISA etc…

     THIS IS GLOBALISM , FOLKS.

     It is happening all over the western world. And is designed to break down national sovereignty to facilitate the New World Order. The same NWO George Bush Senior made a globally covered speech about at the culmination of the war in Kuwait / Iraq.

     And neo liberal policy’s are the tools they use. And it has been very , very effective.

     • Absolutely agree.

     • Sorry! That was such a good explanation and I down arrowed by mistake.

   • “I freely admit that the uncontrolled access to the Auckland real estate market by foreign nationals is short sighted and hugely inflationary however, the letter is about Botany Downs which is probably Chinese by a substantial majority but with permanent migrants not foreign nationals.”

     I really hate people like you. This is your sentence summed up:
     ‘Well the Foreigners already own most of the land, so they may as well own the rest of it.’

     You can call it how you like, but don’t start criticizing this story when you are a part of the problem. Its people like you who ignore the flashing signals until its too late….

     • Hate? really? How do you feel about people you actually know something about? Also your summation in no way reflects what I said.

   • How many properties do you own, Slydixon?

   • In this case, being Chinese does have a certain relevance – Not because of their race, but because the Chinese government gives interest free loans, which their citizens use to bankroll their investments. Their particular situation plays a large part in their market dominance.

     • Yes – well said.

       Colonisation by Chinese – not by war – but by interest-free loans.

       And no, I don’t think super will be there forever.

       What Chinese investor/Resident is going to want to pay superannuation to old, white people?

9. I’m always reminded of a Monopoly game, where the only way to win was to BUY EVERYTHING, NEVER SELL ANYTHING and SLOWLY CHOKE THE OTHER PLAYERS OUT OF THE GAME.

   • I’ve always hated that game, and am generally distrustful of people who are enthusiastic about it.

     • What an extraordinary criteria of character assessment. So detailed. I’ve never liked rugby and am generally distrustful of people who support the game, so, you know….I’ve lost touch with my relatives.

   • Exactly.

     And what happens when one of the players ends up with most of the property and the other players can’t pay the rent when they land on those properties?

     GAME OVER.

10. The main issue i think is the political and trade relation impacts of such a ban with certain countries.

    • Not at all. New Zealanders can’t buy property in many of our trading partners. So your assertion is theoretical at best.

      • I know, for example China, but for many we can.

        • Somalia?

          Kazakhstan?

          Bangla Desh?

          • North Korea?
            Libya?
            Syria?

11. It is very simple to enter in an address, check through the search results and locate the agent(s) involved if you are interested enough.

12. All popular large western cities have housing markets similar to Auckland, all are approaching this problem in a different way, but none I have read of have the magic bullet. For example, Sydney has arguably a worse problem than Auckland despite more rigid rules.

    The idea that stopping Chinese or others from overseas investing in our housing market will fix this perceived problem is a nonsense.

    If investors were selling down in Auckland and the market was falling the debate would be very different. Anyone who has been through the sharemarket collapse of the 80’s and the more recent Global Finance Crisis understand that markets do correct.

    • Funny that…..but wages don’t , right?

13. Certainly one of the sexiest real estate ads I’ve ever seen, and if the PM comes with that much patio furniture, I’ll take him. What a babe. As for Paddy on the couch there, he’s probably yelling at his Moira to get him another cup of tay – I can say that, because my father was from Ireland, therefore, I’m entitled to take a dump on him. I think that’s how it works, although I’m not sure. Identity politics, so very fraught.
    Seriously though, surely we languish under one of the most hands off governments in the entire faux-democratic world? It’s almost central African in it’s disdain of doing the right thing by the population. I’m out of NZ at the moment and just looking back at the place from a distance, it’s kind of shocking how much Kiwis are expected to stomach.

14. Side-tracked by the photos, I’ve just read the article – well, we all knew it was happening, right? Just not the powers that be. It’s so self-explanatory, what more can you add?

15. I actually can’t stop looking at the JK pin-up photo. Can we please have a caption competition.

    • OMGosh he still looks the same

      Acts the same
      Lies the same
      Obfuscates the same
      Doesn’t give a FF the same
      Even after he has been rinsed

      John Key the Claytons PM

16. […] As I pointed out yesterday, this foreign speculation is damaging our economy and benefiting those who are already benefited. […]

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