Bad news for Kiwi recruiters could represent great news for residential investment property in Auckland and surrounding regions.
The New Zealand Herald recently reported NZ businesses are having trouble finding the highly skilled staff they're after. What kind of staff does the country need? Builders who can work on infrastructure developments in Auckland, according to a survey from Manpower Group.
The survey shows that 59 per cent of local employers in NZ said they're finding it difficult to fill jobs, up significantly from 2012 (48 per cent) and 2013 (51 per cent).
"Half of employers were finding there was a lack of available applicants, a third were saying there was a lack of experience and 16 per cent were saying there was a lack of technical competency or the hard skills," Matt Love-Smith, general manager of Manpower Group New Zealand, told the Herald in a May 30 article.
"I think that points to the number of organisations looking to employ on experience and hard skills which is clearly proving challenging."
While this is less than favourable news for Kiwi employers, it makes one thing perfectly clear: Infrastructure development is underway in Auckland. And as plenty of property investors have found out in the past, infrastructure often means value growth.
New roads, railways and other infrastructure projects have historically resulted in capital gains growth in whatever region the work takes place.
Of course, Auckland isn't the only part of NZ dedicated to infrastructure development. Providing "cost-effective and productive infrastructure" was specifically highlighted as part of the Hamilton City Council Economic Development Agenda.
With this in mind, those considering residential property investment in Hamilton, Auckland or any other part of NZ should keep local infrastructure and future development in mind when selecting real estate.