HLM -Chapter 1281 Not Enough Houses

This was the residents’ way of demanding control over housing prices. Wang Bo cleared his throat and said, “I think everyone can see that I haven’t engaged in property speculation, and no one has come here to speculate either. The changes in housing prices are normal.”

Indeed, Sunset Town hadn’t yet attracted speculators, partly thanks to the New Zealand government’s strict controls on such activity.

One resident sighed helplessly: “But Mayor, the price jumps are too drastic. Since the beginning of the year, prices have nearly doubled. We couldn’t buy houses in time, and now prices are already like this.”

“Mayor, it’s obvious that there aren’t enough houses in Sunset Town. You need to allow land sales so that we can buy land and build homes.”

“Building more houses is fine too. Right now, supply is clearly below demand—far below!”

The resident had hit the nail on the head. Compared to Sunset Town’s population growth, housing supply was lagging behind.

The reason was that Wang Bo was reluctant to sell land. New Zealand implements a perpetual land ownership system, meaning that once someone buys a house, the land underneath it belongs to the owner forever.

The land in Sunset Town was in Wang Bo’s hands. For the town to develop, there needed to be residents—and residents needed homes—so he had to sell land eventually.

But he had a strong small-farmer mentality: with land in his pocket, he was reluctant to let it go. Of course, he had been arranging for Porter to build residential areas, but population growth was simply too fast.

Seeing the crowd getting a bit heated, Wang Bo coughed again.

Concerned, someone asked, “Mayor, do you have bronchitis? Why don’t you take some medicine first?”

Wang Bo picked up a glass of water. “Just a sip of water is fine. As for the issue you raised, my secretary will take note, and I’ll find a way to resolve it within the next month.”

This housing issue was the biggest problem at the Q&A session. Another concern raised was that thieves had appeared in Sunset Town, specifically targeting the elderly.

As soon as the session ended, Wang Bo called Uncle Bing over and said, “Assign a few more people to monitor the cameras. There have been thieves lately—deal with them.”

Uncle Bing nodded. “Understood. But the number of recent reports hasn’t changed, so I don’t think it’s a major issue.”

By comparison, the housing problem was indeed a major issue.

Another issue was that the first batch of “block houses” built in Sunset Town was nearing the end of its lifespan. Residential areas were manageable—New Zealanders were good at building new homes on land. But commercial areas, meaning the town center, were trickier, because businesses didn’t want to halt operations.

Sunset Town attracted too many tourists; even one day of halted business meant lost income.

The following week, Wang Bo had to call a special morning meeting, gathering his inner circle. Elizabeth distributed materials to look for solutions.

Atulu exclaimed, “There are already so many houses in Sunset Town, and supply still doesn’t meet demand?”

“Yeah, didn’t we even build houses on the sand dunes? And there are floating houses on the lake, too.”

“The model floating house is ready. Haven’t you gone to see it? It’s amazing. I bet it’s going to attract a lot of people in the future.”

“Yeah, I took my wife to see it once. She was impressed and wants me to buy one, but do I really need to? The boss will surely give us one, right?”

Seeing the topic go off-track, Wang Bo angrily slammed the table. “Enough! What do you mean ‘give’? Focus. If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll personally send you all a coffin.”

“Send a coffin? Boss, why?” Atulu asked, confused.

Wang Bo repeated in Chinese: “Send you off! I’ll send you to meet your ancestors, to heaven! Got it?!”

Seeing him angry, everyone finally went quiet.

Atulu chuckled awkwardly: “Actually, solving this problem is simple. Like us Māori, why not just build wooden huts or thatched houses? If not, we could live in tents.”

Hani shook his head. “Impossible. Aside from you Māori, who else would live like that? Can that even be called a home? Honestly, even our doghouse looks better than your Māori huts.”

Atulu got angry: “Hey, that’s an insult to us!”

Wang Bo slammed the table hard. “Hani! Atulu! Both of you, go stand in the corner, now!”

The two were dumbfounded and said in unison, “Boss, please calm down.”

“Go stand there!” Wang Bo was genuinely furious.

Hani quickly raised his hand: “Boss, actually Atulu is right. This is simple. BACH—use BACH to solve it!”

“What’s BACH?” Wang Bo asked, startled.

Elizabeth explained: “It’s a slang term in New Zealand, short for ‘Bachelor Pad.’ Strictly speaking, it refers to a seaside holiday house, but it’s also used to mean any small vacation home.”

Wang Bo was exasperated. “Enough with the slang! I didn’t grow up here; I can’t understand all these terms!”

New Zealand slang was abundant, often unseen in textbooks or formal settings. For example, “have-a-good-one” literally translates to “something good happened,” but it’s really just a casual farewell, with no concern for whether things go well or badly.

Some slang even came from Chinese communities. For instance, “poor white”—Wang Bo was baffled the first time he heard it, until Charlie explained that it refers to poor white people who look down on Asians.

Hani continued: “Officially, it refers to small vacation homes on scenic lakesides or beaches. Practically, it can mean a simple house made from a mix of wood and steel—smaller and simpler than a block house but more sturdy and durable.”

Wang Bo grew interested. “So there are houses simpler than block houses but sturdier too?”

Charlie chuckled: “Plenty. Like China’s colored steel tile houses.”

Wang Bo shook his head. “No way. Who’d willingly live in those unless forced?”

Charlie said, “Unfortunately, a BACH is basically a colored steel house—but nicer. It’s furnished, like a sturdier block house.”

Elizabeth pulled up examples on the computer and showed Wang Bo.

The houses were small but exquisitely decorated, located on hills, reefs, or even in trees. From the outside, the steel tiles weren’t obvious. Wang Bo realized Charlie was right: the main material really was colored steel tiles.