Oddbean

On the standup call with @nos.social people were talking about their pets and I realized something about Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, having a pet, is a symbol of wealth. Only the wealthy are able to own pets. New Zealand has very expensive real estate. The cost of housing in relationship to salaries is some of the highest in the world. This sucks, and could easily be fixed. The high cost of housing is due to two factors, first the regulation around construction, and then also immigration. Regulation and permissions means that despite the country being mostly empty with tons of land, it’s very hard to build new housing, especially dense housing like apartment buildings. The second issue is immigration. New Zealand has a policy of focusing on attracting high income professionals as immigrants, they don’t let construction workers easily come in as temporary or long term work to residency visas. This wouldn’t be so bad, construction jobs would go to locals. But there’s a freedom of movement agreement with Australia which allows New Zealand citizens to very easily live and work across the ditch. Australia has a bigger economy with lots of exports so salaries there are higher. This means a lot of the working class has moved or does move in search of higher salaries. The last smaller issue is smaller economies of scale for building materials also drives up costs. It means that housing is very expensive. The median house costs $900k NZD, but the median after tax salaries are $49k, meaning it takes 18 years of all income to pay for a house / apartment. You basically have to be wealthy or have family money in order to buy a house. Landlords are allowed to unilaterally ban all pets. Most do. I suspect there are restrictions on how much they’ll charge for damages, or if they just don’t to deal with it. When i searched in Wellington for a place with three bedrooms and allowing pets, I found 2 listings for the entire city. So, in order to own a pet you’ve either got to do it clandestinely, which is tricky because landlords do inspections of rental properties every 3 months, or you own your own home. Pets aren’t expensive in New Zealand, but being able to own one is. Renters in rural areas are more likely to be allowed to pets, but in cities it’s basically not allowed. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-09-2022/the-absence-of-rights-for-renters-with-pets-is-just-cruel It was even a major issue in the last election! The right announce they’d change the policies, but their primary funders are landlords, so I don’t expect things will get better as landlords don’t want to allow pets. https://news.google.com/search?q=pets%20election%20renters%20new%20zealand&hl=en-NZ&gl=NZ&ceid=NZ%3Aen What is an oddly unique symbol of wealth in your country?