Open AccessThe Housing Haves and Have-Nots
Author(s) -
Timothy Irwin,
R. John Irwin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v14i3.5108
Subject(s) - boom , inequality , economics , house price , national wealth , labour economics , demographic economics , monetary economics , finance , mathematical analysis , mathematics , environmental engineering , engineering
The rise in house prices since the turn of the millennium seems likely to have increased the inequality of wealth in New Zealand. On average, house-owners were wealthier than others before the boom, and during the boom real house prices more than doubled. Yet the available data shows little evidence of an increase in inequality in wealth or even of a growing proportional disparity between the net wealth of property owners and others. Difficulties in accurately measuring these changes in wealth are reviewed.