There was a saying here in New Zealand that our economy is a "housing market with a few bits tacked on". Trouble is, on the way up, construction costs were allowed to expand in line with prices and now prices have gone down so much, you can't build a house for less you can sell an existing one, yet the solution is apparently we need to build more cos there's a housing shortage. Sounds like an un-squareable circle to me!
Lack of effective industrial policy in the West means new home construction with resulting speculation in real estate is de facto industrial policy.
Best our bought politicians can do. Kids come second
There was a saying here in New Zealand that our economy is a "housing market with a few bits tacked on". Trouble is, on the way up, construction costs were allowed to expand in line with prices and now prices have gone down so much, you can't build a house for less you can sell an existing one, yet the solution is apparently we need to build more cos there's a housing shortage. Sounds like an un-squareable circle to me!