I scratch my head every time a first-home buyer gets into the media and paints her position as nothing more than a Dickensian victim; marginalised by society and grasping at straws.  Apparently, if newspapers and televisions are to be believed, half a million dollars will not get anyone a single house in Auckland.  Not one jot.    

Just last week, I sat through a Barfoot auction in the CBD and witnessed three houses being sold for less than $500,000.  No housing stock under half a million?  Think again. 

Investors Are Starting To Feel Like Roger Rabbit

Every now and then when there is no one else to pick on, FHBs and their media pals get together and have a good go at investors.  I get it.  Buying your first home is stressful and frustrating, someone has to be the punching bag.  I am happy to oblige and take it on the chin but persisting with landlord backlash like a dog with a bone and turning your back on a balanced argument just gets tiresome.  You risk turning your plight into nothing more than a good ol’ whinge.  

By heavy-handed inference, this particularly frustrated FHB believes price inflations are driven entirely by property investors who are running amok buying up Auckland carte blanche without a care of the world (or more specifically, capital gains tax).  She had been pipped to the post twice at auctions by people she believed to be investors. Funny.  Last time I checked, property investors don’t walk around with special badges or ceremonial headgears.  In their bedrooms perhaps but definitely not in auctions rooms.  At least not that I had seen.  

Who is really driving up...