People who ethnically identify as Asian comprise approximately 15% of New Zealand's population. Chinese make up the largest group, followed by Indian, Korean, Filipino and Japanese, respectively.
Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, consistently ranks among the world's 10 least affordable for housing in the annual Demographia International report. All three major cities in the country — Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, the capital — are categorized as "severely unaffordable." As a result, smaller towns are seeing an influx of people who are relocating in the hopes of finding cheaper housing solutions, only to discover that the new demands have also caused real estate prices to rise in smaller towns.
While weak government regulation and issues of global income inequality go largely unnoticed, Asians in New Zealand seem to have become the scapegoat for the crisis.
Jacqueline Leckie, Associate Professor in Asian migration and diaspora studies, University of Otago, said that "certain politicians have played the 'Asian card' to promote nationalism." She added that the media in New Zealand and the housing debate in popular discourse is "highly influenced by historical stereotypes" of Asian peoples.
Dr. Changzoo Song, a senior lecturer of Korean and Asian Studies at the University of Auckland also said that New Zealand's colonial and political experiences traditionally fueled racism against ethnic Asians. More recently, "the competition that the Europeans (New Zealanders of European descent) feel from Asian migrants over business, jobs and housing might be feeding some racist attitudes," he told DW. "Regardless of the more rational conclusion that the housing crisis was not caused much by Asian immigrants, there has been popular belief that the "wealthy Chinese" contributed to the crisis," Song explained.
Paul Spoonley of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University, also admitted that expensive housing in Auckland had "encouraged some to see Asians as a problem. He said that around 10-12 percent of the New Zealand population still felt anxious about immigration from Asia and the presence of Asians in the country." While there were a lot of stories about Asians inflating prices by speculating on housing, the "evidence was either not available or showed that Asian buyers and speculators were actually a very small part of the issue." He pointed out that more importantly, there had been a housing deficit for some time and housing provision was not keeping up with demand.
Soo Min, 27, who was born in South Korea but moved to New Zealand as a small child, made it clear that ethnic Asians had little to do with the crisis in New Zealand.
"We're all like, we're Asians and we still can't afford houses. They are people with money overseas. Where can we find these supposed rich guys?"
Last year in August, the government passed a law banning non-residents to buy property in New Zealand. Despite the ban, ethnic Asians are still subjected to racist comments, at least online.
New Zealanders have placed housing as their main concern in the last three national elections, with 50% saying that housing is their greatest concern. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's attempt to alleviate the housing crisis through her KiwiBuild policy in the beginning half of 2019 was a notable failure. An estimated 150 houses were built by June in contrast to Ardern's vow of 1000.
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| https://www.worldsocialism.org/nz/ |
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