to house price pressures. this is true for most regions, but is most pronounced in auckland where current inventory would be exhausted in only 12 weeks at the current level of sales. consistent with this, annual house price inflation in auckland has been increasing, reaching nearly 17 percent in march. house price inflation has remained more moderate elsewhere, although price levels remain stretched in most regions. what has caused this resurgence in the housing market? the answer is not straightforward. several demand and supply factors are at play. population growth over the past year has contributed to increased demand for housing. net permanent and long - term ( plt ) migration inflows reached a record rate of over 55, 000 in the year to february 2015 – boosting the population by over 1 percent. while strong growth in migrant arrivals has pushed up the net immigration numbers, there has also been a significant slowdown in the number of new zealanders leaving the country, currently at its lowest level for over a decade. it is estimated that over half of the net migrant inflow have settled in auckland. this is providing a major boost to auckland ’ s population, which grew by nearly 34, 000 people in the year to june 2014 ( figure 3. 2 ). although consent issuance of new dwellings in auckland has continued to increase, reaching 7, 700 in the year to february 2015, this has been insufficient to match the surge in population, let alone cut into auckland ’ s housing shortage. bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 3. 2 : auckland annual net population change ( rolling quarterly totals ) source : statistics new zealand, rbnz estimates. people - per - dwelling is a useful metric for looking at the physical balance between housing supply and demand. over time, people - per - dwelling should slowly trend down as the population ages, families shrink and people become wealthier. this means that the number of dwellings required will tend to increase at a faster rate than the population. if residential building is insufficient to keep up with population growth, then the number of people - perdwelling will trend up rather than down. in auckland, people - per - dwelling has been increasing since 2008 while it has continued to trend down elsewhere in new zealand ( figure 3. 3 ). the sharp rise in people - per - dwelling in auckland in 2014 highlights that home building remains well below the level required to accommodate the rising population. we estimate the shortage of houses in auckland has increased over the past year to between 15, 000 and 20, 000 houses

adrian orr : we are not alone with monetary policy comment by mr adrian orr, governor of the reserve bank of new zealand, 28 august 2019. * * * it was clear that even in the remote mountain region of the us state of wyoming we were among the crowd. the annual august kansas federal reserve ’ s summit of many of the world ’ s central bankers vividly highlighted our commonality. inflation has been low and stable, and many labour markets are near their peak loading. new zealand included. independent central banks have successfully achieved their inflation goals, promoting economic wellbeing. yet, there was no vigorous back patting. there were mostly furrowed brows. a slowing global economic outlook, increasingly prompted by pockets of volatile politics, is keeping the world ’ s central bankers busy. in response to the economic chill, central banks around the world have lowered interest rates – often to record lows – to promote investment and spending. they continue to pursue their mandated low inflation goals. that ’ s our job. we aim to keep inflation low and stable and contribute to maximum sustainable employment. this is the best we can do as a central bank to promote economic wellbeing. we have the one main instrument – the interest rate lever or price of money – and we use this tool with our best view of what ’ s on the horizon. we provide forward guidance on our expected activity, but remain flexible to incoming data. monetary policy remains as effective as ever, and for small open economies like new zealand, the exchange rate plays a significant additional role in competitiveness. our research gives us confidence that even at these low levels of interest rates, monetary policy remains as effective as ever at providing timely economic stimulus. as the governor of the swedish central bank noted – those who think that monetary policy is losing its vigour should think of the alternative. higher interest rates over recent times would have meant we undershot our inflation and employment goals, have significant weaker activity, and a rising domestic exchange rate – until it was unsustainable. but there are natural limitations to what central banks can achieve with their tools, and if operating alone. global integration, productivity and technology, governments ’ fiscal and regulatory policies, changing demographics, consumer preferences and climate, and unanticipated events – including political volatility – play the dominant role in long - term prosperity. central banks operate within this context and need all policy levers working. my colleagues at the summit were very humble as to our influence over long -