Cooking The Books

OPINION: Each week, the Herald/Newstalk ZB's new Cooking The Books podcast will tackle a different money problem. Today, it's what first-home buyers can do if they're feeling locked out of the market. Hosted by Frances Cook.You might have noticed a lot of people are talking about housing right now.There's helpful advice being given, like "toughen up and join the army", or "give up brunch on the weekend, and make more sacrifices".Well, thanks for being condescending, but neither of those pieces of advice are helpful.Our housing market is so overheated it could burst into flames at any moment, particularly if you live in Auckland.Prices have soared around the country, while mortgage conditions are only getting stricter.This year the Economist rated New Zealand's housing market the most unaffordable in the world.That's thanks to having the biggest jump in prices, and the highest cost against average incomes.Demographia's International Housing Affordability Survey was slightly kinder, putting Auckland as the four