It will be cheaper to build on Mars than buy in New Zealand by 2040 if recent house price increases continue, according to a piece of tongue-in-cheek research conducted by a data consultancy owned by Stats NZ.<\/p>\n
Data Ventures executive director Drew Broadly said the team conducted the analysis, in part, to stop arguments between home-owners and renters in the office about the sustainability of the market.<\/p>\n
The research was part of a monthly training exercise in out-of-the-box thinking done by Data Ventures to develop staffs ability to find new ways of attacking complex problems.<\/p>\n
Its becoming so bad moving to Mars should be something you should seriously consider, Broadly said.<\/p>\n
Aispacefactory.com\/Supplied<\/p>\n
An artist's impression of what future habitations on Mars might look like.<\/p>\n
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Comparing house price trajectory to the predicted cost of building on Mars also allowed a light-hearted approach to analysing the market, rather than the deeper, more anger-type arguments that could spring up, Broadly said.<\/p>\n
Kind of our underlying joke is thats how bad we think it is, that rather than saying renters vs. homeowners lets take it to a whole different argument that doesnt bring that political lens to it.<\/p>\n
Data Ventures\/Stuff<\/p>\n
The working behind Data Ventures findings that it may be cheaper in future to build on Mars than buy in NZ.<\/p>\n
You can see this isnt sustainable for anyone, Broadly said.<\/p>\n
Data Ventures are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stats NZ, and act as an independent consultancy to draw on expertise and data from within the government organisation for paying clients. <\/p>\n
The idea for this research came from Elon Musks recent announcement that he wants a city of one million people on Mars by 2050.<\/p>\n
Broadly said using Musks predictions of costs had the advantage that anyone with complaints about the analysis could take them directly to the billionaire.<\/p>\n
Data Ventures\/Supplied<\/p>\n
Data Ventures executive director Drew Broadly said the Mars-resettlement comparison was conducted as a kind of creative Friday exercise.<\/p>\n
In the past, Data Ventures has worked with Tourism NZ and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to increase understanding of the domestic tourism market using anonymised telecom data. <\/p>\n
The trajectory of New Zealands housing market prices was based on a QV house price index that showed house prices increased by 18.2 per cent in the year ending March 2021.<\/p>\n
Data Ventures predictions were based on this increase continuing year-on-year.<\/p>\n
Uncredited\/AP<\/p>\n
With just a couple of rovers and a tiny helicopter currently on Mars, congestion is unlikely to rival Auckland during rush hour any time soon.<\/p>\n
The cost of buying an acre of Mars was taken from BuyMars.com, which Broadly concedes may not constitute a legally binding right to possession of the Martian surface. <\/p>\n
According to Auckland Council in 2020, a residential-sized section in Auckland with no infrastructure or amenities would cost $132,665 over 3000 times the cost of Mars.<\/p>\n
The big cost on the Mars-side of the ledger is transport.<\/p>\n
While no-one enjoys sitting on the Southern Motorway at 5pm, a one-way trip to Mars is predicted to reduce in cost from roughly $14 billion to around $300,000 in future.<\/p>\n
The median household size in New Zealand is 2.7 people according to Stats NZ, so a family trip would cost around $810,000.<\/p>\n
Building an earthbag-style dome home on Mars, which would use Martian soil, was predicted to cost $35,520 in materials.<\/p>\n
According to Data Ventures, a copy of Monthly Labor Review estimated 1337 man-hours to build a single-family home, so presuming Martian labour wages were similar to todays at $40, that would cost $53,480.<\/p>\n
With all of that taken into account, the team compared it to housing costs in New Zealand if the 18.2 per cent yearly increase continued.<\/p>\n
And there it was it became cheaper to build on Mars in 2040.<\/p>\n
A blog post by Date Ventures on the topic noted Elon Musk may not be a reliable source for true costings of Mars travel, buying land on Mars may be illegal, Martian homes would be unfurnished, and there was a high risk of death involved in the move.<\/p>\n
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More here: <\/p>\n
Building on Mars 'cheaper than owning in NZ by 2040', tongue-in-cheek research finds - Stuff.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It will be cheaper to build on Mars than buy in New Zealand by 2040 if recent house price increases continue, according to a piece of tongue-in-cheek research conducted by a data consultancy owned by Stats NZ. Data Ventures executive director Drew Broadly said the team conducted the analysis, in part, to stop arguments between home-owners and renters in the office about the sustainability of the market. The research was part of a monthly training exercise in out-of-the-box thinking done by Data Ventures to develop staffs ability to find new ways of attacking complex problems. Continue reading