NZ Herald 26 May 2007
Q&As: The inter-generation battle rages on in six Q&As, and we also get several readers’ ideas on how Gen Xers can cope with high house prices; Succinct advice from a reader’s Dad who suffered in the Depression.
Q&As: The inter-generation battle rages on in six Q&As, and we also get several readers’ ideas on how Gen Xers can cope with high house prices; Succinct advice from a reader’s Dad who suffered in the Depression.
Q&As: Four readers give diverse views on whether baby boomers or Generation Xers got a better deal on tertiary education, student loans, and affordability of houses.
Readers respond on KiwiSaver tax breaks. Three readers were unhappy with my last column, in which I said the KiwiSaver tax breaks expected in the upcoming Budget will benefit only some people, at the expense of New Zealand as a whole.
From the Mailbox. A mortgage-free couple wonder how to use the equity in their home.
Q&As: Three readers defend baby boomers and suggest how today’s young could afford to buy homes; A Generation Xer speaks up for her generation; A reader worries that apartments may lose value.
Q&As: Auckland houses may be unaffordable, but apartments aren’t; One man is happy with is inexpensive home; Homeowner feels anything but smug about being in the housing market; War is declared between the baby boomers and the younger generation; Last time New Zealand tried to control rents, it was disastrous.
Think again about those KiwiSaver tax breaks. Many readers were no doubt pleased to hear of Winston Peters’ recent hints that the May 17 Budget will include tax breaks in the KiwiSaver retirement savings scheme. But only some will benefit — and it will be at the expense of others, and the country as a whole.
Q&As: Would-be homeowners may need to lower their standards a bit — with some help from Monty Python; Inflation hits property at least as much as share funds; Californian astounded by our “real estate mania”.
Q&As: Rent control would do more harm than good; The cost of staying out of the housing market; Reader insists it’s worthwhile to try to time foreign exchange movements. It’s all his!
Obsessed with property? Not us. New Zealanders are not as property mad — or as mortgage mad — as we’ve been led to believe, recent research shows.