As I stroll down the waterfront in my beloved Hudson County, NJ, I see apartments sprouting up like mushrooms. It makes me proud. But it’s nothing compared to New Zealand.

YIMBY Is Kiwi

New Zealand just might be the world capital of YIMBY.

This beautiful nation has spent the last decade making building homes way easier. Auckland, the largest city, has led the charge.

From the excellent Apricitas Economics blog:

Auckland, a city of only 1.7M, permitted 15k units last year—while preliminary data shows the 5 boroughs of New York City (population: 8.3M) permitted a meager 9.2k units by comparison. In total, New Zealand permitted 9.7 new housing units per 1000 residents in 2022, a 45-year-high that was nearly double the rates seen in the US.

Auckland is building 1 new unit for roughly every 100 residents. In NYC, they’re building approximately 1 per 1,000.

Auckland has 10X-ed NYC!

So, Did YIMBY Actually Make Housing Cheaper?

YIMBY is supposed to make housing more affordable. Is it working?

Absolutely!

Rents are growing much more slowly in Auckland today than before the reforms.

…after adjusting for inflation rents in Auckland have been essentially flat since the 2016 AUP—and [research by University of Auckland professors] Greenaway-McGrevy estimates that 2-bedroom apartment rents are roughly 26-33% lower than they would be in the absence of upzonings. That easing of rent pressures was felt most at the lower end of the price distribution—real rents of Auckland’s cheaper apartments fell faster than the real rents of its median apartment.

Building more housing worked. It kept rents down, especially for the poor.

This policy is a resounding success.

Becoming Auckland

Here in Hudson County, NJ, we’re building way more than New York City. Our new housing permits are more than 2X the NYC level.

But that still leaves us 5X below Auckland!

What if we built like Auckland does? That’s more good construction jobs and more affordable homes, especially for the poorest.

Check out these effects in Auckland:

Construction activity in Auckland alone has gone from 1.56% of nationwide GDP in 2012 to 2.67% in 2021, and Auckland’s per-capita GDP has gone from being 6% above the national average in 2012 to 13.8% above it in 2022.

If we build more, we all get way richer. Housing gets cheaper too.

And the poor benefit the most.

Wrap-Up

If we actually care about poor people, we have to stop the NIMBY craziness. Every home we don’t build pushes people closer and closer to being homeless.

I hope to see wonderful New Jersey lead on this. And if New York wants to join, let ‘em!

Jersey guys are always up for a good fight. 🙂

Should we build more or not? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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