Ok , so I ' ve sent an email to the author of these articles I ' m waiting with baited breath to hear what she says I ' ve resaid a lot of this in rnz already . On an unrelated note it ' s very cathartic to send a nice long email to a reporter who makes their bread on reporting property price hype . Hi Anne , I realize that all of the articles you ' ve been writing on Mr Ron Hoy Fong probably do a good job of getting you clicks and that ' s what we need in the current media space sadly , but could we please have a little more critical analysis ? I did some math on my own , using the numbers from Trademe property in the past month , and I can ' t see any reason to invest in Auckland property unless you want to own your own home regardless of the financial cost . The average house in Auckland has an asking price of $ 871 , 800 . Average rents are $ 500 a week . I ' m assuming you ' ve bought an average house at $ 871 k and put down 20 % so you ' ve got a mortgage of $ 697 k . Now assuming you ' ve bought a house to rent it out , things aren ' t looking good . Even if you go with the lowest mortgage rate offered in 50 years , you ' ve got a fortnightly repayment of $ 1660 . Minimum . Or 1 . 6 x what you make from rent . Before you pay rates . Assuming you don ' t get a tenancy company to manage anything Assuming you have a 100 % occupancy rate good luck Assuming mortgage rates don ' t tick back up to where they were in the mid 2000 ' s to 8 % and your payments don ' t increase to $ 2 , 400 a fortnight Assuming you make absolutely no repairs to the placeBut my house will keep going up in value the investors like Mr Ron Hoy Fong say . Well I certainly hope so . Because it ' s going to cost you at least $ 30 k to sell a house with an estate agent at that price point again , I did some quick googling on the average price of an agent in AucklandBut my tenants pay my mortgage down for me they say . Well sort of . Assuming we ' ve got everything in my list of bullet points nailed down , by year 2 these tenants are not only covering the interest on your mortgage , but they ' re starting to pay off some of the house . Even a small increase of 1 . 0 % to the mortgage rate remember I ' m being generous and using the lowest rate in the past 50 years , means your tenants only start paying down the actual house after year 10 . If we see the interest rates move back to 8 % the tenants are paying interest only until year 19 . Also remember you ' ve locked up at least $ 120 k of your own cash that could be doing something else instead . Also remember you are contributing at least $ 300 a week $ 15 k year to this mortgage of your own money unfortunately Mr Ron Hoy Fong ' s argument doesn ' t work . Particularly relevant when he says working a conventional job leaves you drowning in debt ! I don ' t see how New Zealand incomes can support houses at $ 1 m . I moved to San Francisco two weeks after graduating which admitedly has an awful housing crisis thanks to bungling NIMBYs and Bureaucrats . Houses here are a median of $ 1 . 3 m USD , but rent is $ 4 , 350 month or more than double that of Auckland . I pay roughly $ 100 less per month for my room in San Francisco , than I would for an entire house in Auckland and I ' ve got a cheap place ! This is important , and something I ' ve noticed you don ' t really cover . New Zealand wages are awful . Graduates start on $ 50 k what a joke , considering you ' ve taken out a $ 50 k loan to get the job . Five years down the track and you might be on $ 75 k earning less than a bloody house per year ! While San Francisco has a horrible cost of living , the tech wages make up more than for it . I work in tech sales , and barely ever deal with anyone over the age of 2526 earning less than $ 100 k USD year . By the time people hit 30 there are a lot of people already making $ 200 k a year . Most people in technology are making at least $ 150 $ 180 k . Software engineers make more than this , especially starting Facebook pays an average base salary of $ 110 k for a graduate . New York ' s the same , with tens of thousands of people making six figure salaries in finance . Auckland has big city prices , but where ' s the industry that employs 50 , 000 people paying a $ 100 k average ? We don ' t have one . The rise in homelessness in Auckland indicates that rental prices are already unsustainable . I read all of your articles and couldn ' t really find any pushback on the sheer insanity of the property conferences the whole paying interest only and using equity to buy new houses the moment you ' ve got enough for a bare minimum deposit . It ' d be refreshing to read how the current model you ' ve written about all this week works if mortgage rates go up even 2 %, or if prices stagnate for say a full year . I look forward to hearing about how I ' ve missed something here , because all I see is a massive crisis and sooner , rather than later . Ps . Hypothetically , if I were to be right and house prices did take a 30 % hit in Auckland , what would happen to all those kids who used the equity in mum and dad ' s house to help them secure that new mortgage ? I hope you weren ' t advocating for something that ' d have them losing their house ! !!!!