Wellington is a city under siege
Saturday, 13 June 2026
Glen Jones is managing director of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty - Wellington.
OPINION: What Wellington needs is simple: confidence.
Confidence comes from stable interest rates, job security, wage growth, population growth, migration, economic direction, and politicians who don’t settle for cheap theatrics.
Real estate markets rise, stutter or fall on confidence. And the lack of it coming from central government is leaving us to be a city under siege.
The correction to Wellington’s housing market has been monumental, not just by New Zealand standards, but by global standards. Add to that the mammoth rate hikes to fix infrastructure failures created by decades of political can‑kicking. Add the soaring cost of insurance in a city defined by earthquake risk. Add the burden on building owners with quake‑prone properties. Add the recent floods.
All of a sudden, you have a capital city on its knees.
Read More:
Oh that’s right, and then add the public sector. Thousands of roles were lost or left unfilled in 2024 / 2025, with Wellington absorbing the brunt. Combine that with years of enforced or encouraged working from home policies that gutted foot traffic and crippled local cafes, restaurants, and retailers. Lambton Quay, once commanding some of the highest retail rents in the country, saw foot traffic collapse.
There is no quick bounce‑back. Businesses need time, stability, consistency, and frankly, a bit of luck to ensure actual recovery. Nicola Willis did direct public servants to work less from home, but that was a little like putting a bandaid on a broken leg.
Given all this, you’d think Wellington might be spared any further political fireworks, at least long enough to lick its wounds and find our feet again. But no. Instead, with great fanfare, we’ve been told that Wellington’s flogging is far from over, and that up to another 9000 cuts could be coming across the public sector in the immediate years ahead. Outrageously tone deaf. And to have it trumpeted by Wellington’s very own Nicola Willis — well, Brutus himself would have been proud.
It reminded me of Labour’s ill‑timed capital gains tax proposal. The housing market was on its knees, thousands in negative equity, confidence shattered — and out popped a policy guaranteed to inflict more pain and uncertainty. Whether CGT is needed is a debate for another day. But ideally, it’s preferable to not pour petrol on a burning house.
Wellington has taken knock after knock after knock. Many businesses are hanging on by their fingernails, hoping next year will be better than the last. They’re trying to survive long enough to turn their fortunes around, hoping today’s losses might be tomorrow’s recovery – risking everything.
It’s more likely than not, that the Government assumed this move would play well to their voter base outside of Wellington. But playing politics with people’s livelihoods at a time like this shows a bewildering lack of empathy and understanding.
The domino effect of such a seismic announcement doesn’t just hit the much-maligned public sector, it hits every Wellingtonian. More business closures. More redundancies. More families under pressure. A crumbling property market. In the past year alone, 170+ Wellington businesses closed, and nearly 6000 jobs were lost.
Contractor and consultancy spending, historically Wellington’s safety valve, has been slashed by 35%. Recruiters describe the job market as “dire”. Hospitality, retail, and CBD vibrancy continue to deteriorate. Many operators are focused not on growth, but on survival - or on finding an exit strategy that doesn’t involve insolvency.
Yes, the public sector must modernise. Yes, technology will replace some roles. Yes, there may still be excess even after the 2024–2025 redundancies. But was this the moment to chase a cheap political win?
I met a lovely family recently. They run a small local business. They’ve sacrificed enormously to send their daughter to a private school where she has thrived. But at the end of this year, they’ll pull her out — hoping they can afford to return her in a few years, if their business survives. That’s the human cost. That’s the reality behind the headlines. And, although upsetting, many stories are much sadder than this one example.
Where are the leaders of old — the strong orators, the intuitive centrists, the politicians who understood the human side of governance, balanced with the betterment of our national interests?
Even with another election looming, we cannot forget the human side of politics. These decisions affect real people. Hard‑working taxpaying people. Families trying to stay afloat. And frankly, our three‑year election cycle is crippling us. It traps the country in perpetual campaign mode, encouraging cheap headline‑grabbers instead of long‑term nation‑building.
Would it be too much for a government to see a struggling city and think, “What can we do to help?”.