Food price woes globally - LONG READ

[poos_n_wees]

You may want to consider the positive things that are happening in our comunity - more efficent cars, improved public transport and roading, and longer lasting engines - requiring less money to maintain the vehicle. Rental and house ownership costs on the decline, child care assistance from the government, employment at a 20 year high, and the working for familys scheme.

Taken from: Woeful Auction Reveals Extent of Property Crisis

Real estate agents and property investors are reporting that demand virtually dried up in March and April as first home buyers withdrew from the market because of higher interest rates and high prices, while property investors have stepped back given uncertainty about house prices.

Demand in Auckland is particularly weak given the recent fallout from the Blue Chip collapse, which has burnt many apartment investors in New Zealand's biggest city.

Auckland's biggest real estate agency group heavily promoted the auction for the last 3 weeks, hoping to clear out a backlog of properties and force many vendors to face up to reality in a buyers' market.

But attendees said very few buyers attended the auction and many auctions received no bids at all.

Barfoot & Thompson reported only 632 sales in March, down 56.2 per cent from a year ago. Some observers are expecting sales to be lower than 600 in April given market conditions and fresh disruption with the upcoming Anzac holiday weekend.

And that was just one article of many.

[Small]

Can you please note where I assume what children eat? I don't even mention that they eat unhealthily???

I wouldn't be encouraging my children to eat bread or cheese at the amounts that they seem to.

nuf said.

I just note that Milk, Bread, and Butter are not neccesitys for and adult, nor have a major part in a childs diet.

in most cases they eat what is in the home, be it bread or cheese, aslong as they have food for christs sake.

[mr natural]

Is having an effect one of my close friends is a teacher. On her pay she can not afford the price increases and said when petriol hits $2 a litre she will not be able to afford to drive to work anymore and probably have to give up her car. She has no children to support...

She needs to learn how to budget. My mother was a teacher and brought up myself and my brother comfortably.

I wouldn't be encouraging my children to eat bread or cheese at the amounts that they seem to. There is a direct corolation to the amount of dairy that a country consumes and the cases of osteoperosis and calcium deficincies.

I get really tired of the 'I can't afford it' line people use so often. I work 3 jobs to support my lifestyle. Your right, it may not effect me as much as a minimum wage family - maybe they should have thought about that before procreating :roll:

You may want to consider the positive things that are happening in our comunity - more efficent cars, improved public transport and roading, and longer lasting engines - requiring less money to maintain the vehicle. Rental and house ownership costs on the decline, child care assistance from the government, employment at a 20 year high, and the working for familys scheme.

I know first hand what the average person spend there money on - I assesed 15 mortgage applications a day as a mortgage lender (90% of which didn't meet criteria). If 'most' of these people stopped blowing thier paycheck on booze and cigeretes then the cost of food might not be such a big deal...

not having a go at you mate but you strike me as someone who does not have a lot of empathy for anyone but yourself.

your mother may have brought you and your brother up by her self but is it the same playing field now?I doubt it.You cannot deny that the basic's of living costs vs wages have taken many turns for the worse over the years.You should well know this being involved in the housing/morage business being one example.

It maybe well and fine for you to have 3 jobs to support yourself and your choosen life style as its all about you,but some people choose to have a family because thats whats important to them and they have to balance work and family commitments,whats the point of creating a family if your never there for them right?

Alot of decent people with young families are struggling right now under new economic pressures and it's not their fault.i don't see them blowing there money on booze and cigeretes as they are geniuely struggling to provide the basic's.

[teamfatboy]

We're not talking about osteoporosis or calcium deficiencies. Do you really think a starving family is thinking about whether they are deficient in calcium or at risk of osteoporosis? Milk, bread and butter are a staple in most households.

I work at the Aucks City Mission and have seen first hand the struggles of families and people in the "lower socioeconomic areas" of our country. Not all of them are blowing their paychecks on booze and ciggies.. in FACT, most of them are paying their bills with grocery shopping as the LAST item of their priority list (there was a study done recently that can confirm this). How can you supply fresh food for your kids if you can't even afford the power bill to keep your fridge running?

Many of these people are unskilled, working in blue-collar jobs for a crap wage and uneducated in healthy living/cooking.. BUT are willing to learn and do want to provide the best for their kids. They're often just not sure where to look for help and usually come to us when they're at their lowest point, and even then, are very embarassed to be asking for help.

Your post got my blood boiling.. you really have no idea.

Well said P&W! When reports of conditions like scurvey and rickets are resurfacing in children in a 1st world country like ours, we have to be concerned.

Am I right to be thinking that if people were taught how to make the most of cheap nutritious food, they'd be better able to look after themselves? My experience has been that "in general" people don't know how to do some of the things that earlier generations did, such as roasting cheaper cuts of meat, making stews, extending meat dishes with vegetables, and the like?

Again, I agree with you that it's hard to think about such things when the HP company took the cheap fridge back and the washing-machine just crapped-out AGAIN - and that in many cases it's not for lack of trying that folks find themselves in these situations. My wife's from South Auckland, where the meatworks is long gone, the railway works is long gone, all the reliable employment for unskilled folk has gone...and in many cases there's been no safety net for them at all.

Getting back to the food-crisis thing....I read in this morning's Sunday Star Times that a guy on $60k has had to swap red-meat for mince and chicken, and beer is a twice-a-year treat. He's being responsible, putting his kids first, but he can't give them cheese sandwiches - never mind afford a mortgage (he's renting). That's on $60k - at least $10k above the average wage in this country. So yes, this is very real.

I also think it's probably going to be worse for other countries than for NZ, but that we will be affected, as our exporters won't be interesting in selling their product here for what we can afford to pay, when other countries can pay more...

[queen]

damn I have to go out this morning or I would make this a lengthy reply and rip to shreds everything samwelly wrote.

Still the other replies should already be making you think, that would be if you could get your head out of your ass long enough to let the bloodflow to your brain for a while.

You make me sick Have a nice day %*

[blairandkelly]

you sound like a prime candidate for the labour party samwelly ,clinging to a sinking ships not a wise move , your correct unemployment's at an alltime low yet benifits and welfare at an alltime high , go figure ! with so few people out of work you would expect to see your local winz office empty , quite the opposite it the norm infact .

rental and house ownership costs on the decline , you should submit that one to tui bro seriously?

[SamWelly]

I can think of far more productive things than spending my time replying to comments which are taken out of context or missinterpreted.

I really hope that all the people struggling with rising food costs arn't expecting for their problems to be solved by posting on an internet forum and are proactively looking to put themselves in a more comfortable position.

Congratulations to the people on here that are doing charity work or contributing back into the community - I have done my fair share of voluntere work invloving budgeting advice, restoring wild life in areas that have been striken by flood, and training kids in boxing and weight lifting who are or were being bullyed at school. I know what the other side of the community has to deal with - I grew up sorrounded by it - hell I worked on fishing boats as the bitch boy for a year till I saved enough money to pay for my studys.

I'm just not going to be such a soft ass and hug and kiss the problems away...

[SamWelly]

Sorry, just one other thing regarding house prices. Ring any lender, broker, or real estate agent and ask if now is a good time to purchase an investment property... Seriously bud... Any of them with a conscience should set you straight.

Interest rates are at a non sustainable level, house sales are down drematicaly - while this may not indicate a 'crash' it does show that a downturn in house prices is enivitable. We (at the bank) estimated last year that the average home was 30% over valued. Negative asset loans were of high concern due to predicted reduction in liquidable value - less demand (or affordability) = less sales. You can figure out the domino effect of this surely.

[SamWelly]

You may want to consider the positive things that are happening in our comunity - more efficent cars, improved public transport and roading, and longer lasting engines - requiring less money to maintain the vehicle. Rental and house ownership costs on the decline, child care assistance from the government, employment at a 20 year high, and the working for familys scheme.

Taken from: Woeful Auction Reveals Extent of Property Crisis

Real estate agents and property investors are reporting that demand virtually dried up in March and April as first home buyers withdrew from the market because of higher interest rates and high prices, while property investors have stepped back given uncertainty about house prices.

Demand in Auckland is particularly weak given the recent fallout from the Blue Chip collapse, which has burnt many apartment investors in New Zealand's biggest city.

Auckland's biggest real estate agency group heavily promoted the auction for the last 3 weeks, hoping to clear out a backlog of properties and force many vendors to face up to reality in a buyers' market.

But attendees said very few buyers attended the auction and many auctions received no bids at all.

Barfoot & Thompson reported only 632 sales in March, down 56.2 per cent from a year ago. Some observers are expecting sales to be lower than 600 in April given market conditions and fresh disruption with the upcoming Anzac holiday weekend.

And that was just one article of many.

I take it from the article you have linked to that you are agreeing with me right? The article shows the decline in sales - and subsequent decline in purchase prices.

[mr natural]

I can think of far more productive things than spending my time replying to comments which are taken out of context or missinterpreted.

I really hope that all the people struggling with rising food costs arn't expecting for their problems to be solved by posting on an internet forum and are proactively looking to put themselves in a more comfortable position.

yet again you are out of context yourself while accusing others of being so.

you really don't get it do you?!

I don't have a problem with my food bills as i only have myself to support.I have some sympathy for the families that do though.

instead of making broad statements that come across as being unrealistic and sounding like a wank,how about considering the other side of the coin for once and putting forward a decent comment.

[SamWelly]

Ok guys, what is your solution for the rising cost of living in New Zealand?

I made my suggestions pretty clear, but obviously they were shit.

Would love to hear some other ideas to solve this problem.

[2guns]

LMFAO @ EVERYONE GIVING SAM WELLY ARSEHOLES!!!!!

:pfft: :pfft: :pfft: :pfft:

[poos_n_wees]

I take it from the article you have linked to that you are agreeing with me right? The article shows the decline in sales - and subsequent decline in purchase prices.

I'm guessing its not just the bank's lending rates that're affecting the housing prices.. its a whole list of factors.

That 2008 Demographia study that was released lately showed that our house prices outstrip our incomes by ALOT, and that when interest costs on mortgages are added, we're in an even worse position. So I'm standing by my stance that Housing prices are high because our incomes suck in comparison lol.

Just from what I've read, there's a huge need for more affordable houses to be built, and the main suggestion at the moment is to allow building of more houses on the fringes of the cities. This is problematic for two reasons though, 1) The local council's concerned have hiked up fees for this land, and 2) The labour and costs of building materials to build these houses are too expensive (and these will need to be regulated so we don't end up with shoddy leaky houses again!)

I'm definitely no expert in this and someone can jump in and correct me if I'm wrong! But I'm guessing that even though the "subsequent" decline in purchase prices will ease the problem somewhat, there still seems to be more underlying issues to deal with.

[mr natural]

yeah i agree with what your say poo's.

Sam welly the way i see it is.

buying a house now or in the next 6 mths is certainly a good idea if you have a surplus of cash sitting in the bank as the housing prices should drop a fair bit by then,but how many middle class families have $300-400k sitting in the bank.More likely they are going to be moragie sales of middle to low income families forfitting on there repayments.Another case of the rich getting richer.I guy at my gym has around 50 properties and he is lookin at taking advantage of the situation as sales like this are coming up.Good on him,i would do the same in his situation.When the morage rates come down what is likely to happen is alot of these high density houses will be selling to people wanting to get into the market. yuk!

[SamWelly]

The housing market is not in a good position - correct. This makes it a buyers market - hence why your friend is wanting to purchase.

To put it simply:

Less affordability = less demand = less liquidability = lower prices - slower market.

More affordability = more demand = more liquidability = higher prices - faster market.

It is all to some extent a cycle. Much like the 'global warming' IMO. Think of the market crash in the late 80's driving floating rates over 20% - makes our current position look a little more relaxed.

The ombudsman has the control over the banks rate at which it can borrow and invest funds. When they start to bring in regulatory spending the market should realign itself pretty quickly - people will stand to lose a lot of money who are already mortgaged highly. They do it in many other countrys - and can limit the amount a bank can lend based on special lending criteria.

What you are suggesting (providing more land to build affordable homes) will effect the people who already own propertys in the sorrounding neighbourhood.

Imagine you are selling a well priced good millage 4x4 (home) on trademe. You need to sell it as fuel prices (interest rates) are getting too high for it to be affordable. Now think about what happens when 500 similar cars are shipped over from Japan (new similar homes built) which are able to be sold at a lesser price - as the initial investment was minimal. You will be forced to reduce the cost to meet the new market value.

Homes are no different. Either the current owner, or the new owner is going to lose out.

Adding more fuel to the fire will only make it worse.

The people that were falsy lead to believe that they could afford a home (I had hugggge amounts of people failing to keep up with payments back when we did 6.99%!) should get out while they can. People wanting to buy - who can afford to purchase in the current market but don't agree with the over inflation should wait till rates are at the peak and sales are at a minimum. Current home owners who are comfortably dealing with the current situation (reffered to as rich by some of you) should wait it out.

Banks have been over lending for far too long. The 'Welcome home scheme' and 100% lending we introduced only made things worse. I know of a few ways to get out of shit situations some of these people are in with tight mortgage payments. I can post it up if anyone is interested, but falls under the banks duty of care requirements to put it simply.

Jeez, way too long of a post and didn't even cover what I wanted to say.

My solution to the current market would be the introduction of regulatory spending, capital tax, and stricter lending policys.

[mr natural]

when do you see bank interest rates coming down?

[poos_n_wees]

Jeez, way too long of a post and didn't even cover what I wanted to say.

Nice one.. food for thought

[Gym rat]

With the price of food these days it could have an effect on big familes and Universerty students as well.