‘Houston, we've got a problem’: The Political Construction of a Housing Affordability Metric in New Zealand

Abstract

Since the global financial crisis, housing affordability has assumed increased policy significance in a number of countries around the world. At a national level, housing policy formation is subject to certain path dependency processes and embedded institutional structures. In this paper, I argue that housing policy formation in New Zealand is increasingly subject to global flows of policy ideas and that the development of new housing affordability policies draws upon networks of global policy agents, housing experts and private consultants. In particular, this research examines the manner in which a US-based private consultant's metric of housing affordability, and analysis of the causes of housing unaffordability, has been incorporated into policy-making and new legislation in New Zealand.