Wellington’s housing crisis is the biggest brake on the region’s growth, according to tech industry leaders, with even highly-paid engineers unable to find affordable and accessible places to live in the capital area.
These challenges, compounded by the region’s inefficient transport network, are exacerbating the national competition for a relatively small pool of skilled staff during a time of closed borders.
Together, they could stymie a billion-dollar sector that has become a shining light in the Wellington region’s economy.
“We really love Wellington. Wellington is our home as a business,” said Tyrone McAuley, chief operating officer at PikPok, which started in a flat in Lower Hutt and has now become a global phenomenon. Its games have been downloaded half a billion times.
READ MORE:
* Game On: New Zealand’s next billion-dollar industry
* Caught on the hop – Wellington region’s mayors want more detail about government’s housing intensification plans
* Fears Hutt maternity crisis has got ‘worse’ in three years since damning review
“We’re doing what we can to help our staff and to grow our industry in Wellington but some of these factors are making it tough,” McAuley said, adding that more than two-thirds of PikPok’s staff said in a recent survey that housing affordability was their biggest concern.
It’s the same story at Optimal Workshop, a software company whose clients include Uber, IBM, Capital One and General Electric. It has been holding lunchtime sessions where staff can swap tips on how to buy a house.
Where people would once follow their professional hearts, money has now become much more important, said Julie Reddish, people experience officer at Optimal Workshop.
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF
Software development company Optimal Workshop is based at the old Paramount Theatre in Wellington.
“People used to be really okay with just loving the work they did,” she said. “But now they really have to go for the highest salary because they have enormous mortgages.”
Young tech industry workers are asking for big pay-rises in this competitive market, with Optimal saying salaries have increased by 30 per cent in the last six months.
“Well-funded software companies have the ability to give someone a 20 per cent pay rise, but there’s a whole lot of marginal businesses who can’t,” said Serge van Dam, a tech investor. “The Xeros of tomorrow require affordable people to try and get liftoff.”
The average property value in Wellington city has risen 30 per cent over the past year to north of $1.1 million, while the median weekly rent sits above $600.
This comes at a time of immense infrastructure challenges in the region, home to more than half a million people.
These tribulations – and how to breathe new life into the region and create a more affordable, liveable …….