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February 4, 2025 10 mins

Wellington's feeling the property slump, with new figures showing a dramatic dip in house values. 

The council's QV rating valuations show the average house has dropped in value of nearly 25% since 2021. 

Pipitea was the worst hit neighbourhood with a 29% average drop. 

Labour’s Ginny Andersen told Mike Hosking that the feeling in the central city is that it’s had the guts kicked out of it. 

She says that when the public services were culled, the local economy went down with it, which has had a real impact on confidence in the local economy.  

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Politics Wednesday. Mark Mitchell's with us along with Ginny Anderson.
Morning you guys, Morning Mike. Did you get the Yeah,
you're the biggest house owner in all of Parliament?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Market?

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Have you got a house in Wellington?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I hear? But it's on the market at the moment.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
What's it on the market for a fire sale? What's
going on there? Have you seen the heaven? You've seen
the valuations that came out yesterday?

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Not great, not great at all.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
No, that's right. No.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
At the moment, I'm sitting at the Treaty Grounds outside
the frey Walker Cafe. I'm here for a breakfast meeting
that started at eight with the Northern EWE leaders, and
I'm we're just debating whether I move because otherwise that
we're going to hear the show the side of the show.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh so I thought you were going to say you're
here for a meeting at eight o'clock, but no one
showed up yet.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
No, no, no, it's a full meeting. But yeah, I'm
just worried about No, I'm not you in a here, eyeballs.
It means that I'm not disturbing the breakfast too much.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay, good stuff, Ginny, as regards Wellington and twenty five percent.
I mean that's for a lot of people, you know,
significantly material, not just material, but significantly material, and a
lot of people have their savings and houses. Of course,
what's gone wrong with Wellington? Do you think for that
to happen?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well that central sort of city feeling is that it's
just had the guts kicked out of it, so that
it wasn't just the public service, but it was all
of the local economy went down when those jobs got cut,
and that's dragged everything down further and that's had a
real impact on confidence in the local economy and.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Must be longer than that because this is from twenty twenty.
I can't remember twenty twenty one to twenty two. Someone
on there.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, there is a little that the public service cuts
make a big difference. And these people in the Hut
Valley and out in all hun do you all those
people have either jobs associated with the public service or
they're selling a service or doing a doing a thing
that relies on those incomes. So it has a twelvefold
impact in Wellington when you see big, big kicks like that.

(01:54):
But the kicker is for those people who bought at
the peak of the market when they paid quite a
bit for a home and now it's worth quite a
bit less than that. So they've got a big mortgage
rate and the asset is now worth less than what
they pay.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Do you understand that what you guys did, and I
think it's cruel. You were on a massive hiring spree.
You bloated the government. As a country we can't afford.
It is awful when you have to make cuts. Those
are tough decisions, but the fact of the matter is
you put us on a fast track to a third
world country and there had to be changes, and so
I just I just find it amazing that you're still
that you're saying that you wouldn't have made any cuts.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, I'll respond to that. I worked as a public
student the last time National was in government and they
did the same thing. They cut everybody back. And what
happens about now in the mark from now on is
that when the government has big projects that they need
to deliver and all those people with institutional knowledge have
ever been fired or left and let me finish, we

(02:52):
have something called consultants who come in at approximately three
to five hundred dollars an hour, and that's What will
go up now under your government is the cost of
consultants as you try to get projects finished. And there's
no public servant.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Just before I leave, before until this descend let's not
have a descendity Tory fun now. Speaking of Wellington Ginny,
she said, I thought it was interesting you should serve
a term as a counselor before you're a leader. Is
that in general? Is that good advice? In your experience?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Do you reckon? Well?

Speaker 3 (03:23):
I think it's important to know how local government works.
I don't think ever Brian would have the ability to
serve as a counselor, but I think understanding how your
local government works is incredibly important to being a good representative.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Woul it'll be whit well. I mean your path through
the public service, for example, before you went into parliament.
That must have stood you in reasonable stead, mustn't it
as opposed to just you know, coming in cold and
going I wonder how this works.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I think understanding the mechanics of government is incredibly important,
and that's what a lot of people are missing. They
come straight in and expect to make big decisions without
actually knowing what the spillover effects are. And we're definitely
seeing that with.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
The I think the best that you can bring to
public service as life experience, and I think that Jenny's
was in P and h Q.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
That's cool. Mine was on the front line. I think
you actually have to be in touch with.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
What people need and what they were quite from government
to be able to deliver with it was a.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Bit more than just P and h Q. Mark, I've
been around for a wee bit longer than that, so
I've also been a negotiator for the Officer of Treaty Settlements.
I've also worked for Judith Collins and helped your advise
on the.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Work for Judith Collins.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Well, I advised, I advised.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
You keep claiming in her office.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
I didn't say office.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Judith hates it when Jenny says that, I love it.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Mark, did you did you have you got one of
those cvs Jenny that says I worked for Judith Collins.
If I looked at your CV.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
I got nickname. I got the crush in that name.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
She goes trumping and she worked for Judith.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Jimmy, so you're the original crusher. You're claiming you're the
original crusher as well. I did, so you were crushing
Jenny before she was crushing colins and you, despite the
fact she says she didn't.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
They were like, we want to crush cards and we
don't know how to do it, and we're like, my goodness.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Jenny, Jenny's a crush of dreams and jews.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Ginny, you won't like this, but I've done some research
during the ad break, But you bloated the public service.
And when Jacinda came to power, remember you Cinder, your
consultant bill was five hundred and fifty million. By the
time she left it was one point twenty seven billion,
So you bloated the public service. Plus you hired the consultant,
so you can't possibly defend that.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, well you've also had a global pandemic happening in
that period, Mic the consultants. Well, when you had to
try and roll out of vaccine and get everyone up running,
Y said, the bill did go up, but I will
say that it got cut way back under National to
the point where it's be a bone. So a bit
of that building any.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Money, We haven't got any money. Make Mark and Cabinet
about the tax cuts. Tell us all about those.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
No, there's been no discussions. Well, we don't discuss what
happens in can it. But that's obviously Nicholas going to
be looking at all options because the ills you highlighted
the last initial government. Under the last initial government we
were constantly lorded from being a rock star economy well
and that we were taking ours and we're taking ourselves back.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
We've got a mess of hang over things to you, guys,
but we're moving in the right.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Direction, driving it deeper into the ground.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Absolutely not, do.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
You think Mark. We had Rod Duke on from Briscoes
earlier on this morning and he reflected, interestingly a lot
of what's been said to me privately from leading business people.
As much as they may back you or not as
much as they may wish you well in doing what
you're trying to do the economy, you're not doing enough,
you're not going hard enough, and you better get on
with it fast or else you're going to get punished.

(06:38):
And I can cite yesterday's poll that sort of seems
to confirm there.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Look, and that's why this year the Prominence has been
very clear that it's the top priority for us in
terms of unleashing economic growth so that all New Zealanders
can get ahead again. And you know, and there's a
big plan and that's being rolled out. Were fast tracking
projects for economic significance. We're pursuing trade and investment. We're
getting rid of red tape. Were making sure people have
the skills they need to succeed. So there's going to

(07:02):
be a there is a massive focus for us this year.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
The pole, ginny funnily enough, has you, guys. There's been
two poles, both the same people, the people who poll
for you, but you're in government now now.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
The first one wasn't us. I don't think the first
one was curier curios.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Correct, So both poles have you. They didn't have you
in government, this one does, but they have you in
government with the Mary Party. Don't the Mary Party freak
you out? At some point You've got to get freaked
out about them, don't you.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well, they don't freak me out as much as the
police presence here because David Seymour's here. So I think
David Seamore is a greater risk to national security right
now than just a ridiculous state.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Why can't why can't you go to a treaty ground
in this country or any ground for that matter, and
just just deal with David Seymour as a human being
who might have a different opinion from you. Why does
you have to go?

Speaker 3 (07:52):
I think that's a good point and I think approach.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
It's been taken up for here too by the one
and I have to do a massive shout out to
the trust.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Well apart the Prime Minister hasn't fronted up, Mark.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
I'm not fronting up either. We're all having a day off.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Today is going to be with them today.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
You should get but today isn't Why Tonguey day. Today
is the political pull forty. There's absolutely no reason why
I couldn't have gone today and then gone to why
Tony and tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
The reality is, might I agree with You've got the
married party coming out saying that they're going to put
it all powerful commissioner over the top of a democratically
elected prime minister and it's going to be labor who's
they're going to be partners who's going to have to
explain it?

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I think you have said of drumming that up a webat, Mark.
I think that a regular.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Commissioner who does nothing apart from put out press releases,
or is it a commissioner with power? And that is
with power. You've got trouble, Genny, because you wouldn't want that,
would you.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, there's no detail because they haven't announced that, and
they're their own party and they're entitled to have their views,
but there's absolutely no detail as to how that would
work right now.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
So they'll be your partner in government. So you're going
to have to figure that one out, Jenny.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
I will have to wait and see if that happens.
As you say, when we ask you about stupid things
that David Seymour or wants to be are, yes, I
am it white.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Have you had it fun so far? Was it a
nice one? I mean, it's beautiful place to be apart
from anything else, isn't it? It is starting it's a beautiful place.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, we've had some lovely visits. We went out to
and visit in the our last couple of days and
we met with all the kids who are doing the
Waker Arma and it's been really lovely, good experience.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Cool. What about you make yes? Same?

Speaker 4 (09:35):
I mean yesterday we did a tour around the north
so big shout out for calvity caves where the glow
whimsor honestly, if you get a chance to go and
visit you do it. It is an outstanding experience. You've
got NAFA springs, big investment in there. That's the outstanding
of course, the footprints of Coupe over and the hokiing.
So I visited those three locations yesterday. I met with

(09:55):
the locals, you know, and there's so much to do
up here. I mean, Norse one is just such.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
That is true.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Is it possible Mark that given this meeting you're holding
at the moment and you're not actually part of it,
that you don't need to be at.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
The meeting of a bit of a bit of a
bit to go join the meeting. So see what to
bring to it takes you.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
We saw housing too, We saw Nazi Jenney's done their
own housing so under us whole big social housing and
that's just nearly finishing.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Were they all pot worth two and a half million dollars?

Speaker 3 (10:24):
No, there was a big mixture of one's twos threes.
But there's a big housing shortage up here and they
need more and it's a shame that they're not building
more under this cuver.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Have a good day, Tom, I appreciate it very much.
See you next week. Jenny Anderson, Mark Metrolin.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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