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IrelandBloomberg Originals traces New Zealand's exodus to its housing bet
Skilled Kiwis in their thirties are crossing to Australia for bigger paychecks, and the comment section has filled with emigrants telling their own stories.
Bloomberg Originals
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Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 1,060,934 views.
Why Is Everyone Leaving New Zealand?
Things we can learn from the video
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- 0:00New Zealand's idyllic reputation meets record departures, mostly to Australia; "Everyone knows someone who's left."
- 2:04Spoonley explains that the latest wave is people over 30, not young graduates who often return.
- 3:43Hickey: the same job pays 30 to 40 percent more in Australia, with open labor rules and similar culture.
- 3:56Charts show an economy reliant on services and exports, with savings poured into houses rather than stocks.
- 6:45The post-pandemic housing crash and inflation outpacing wages leave people feeling poorer.
- 9:37Investor visas for wealthy foreigners versus keeping local talent; Thomson says higher wages are the only real fix.
Sociologist Paul Spoonley is not worried about young graduates taking a few years abroad. Those usually come home. What he sees now is different: "What we've seen in the latest phase of exodus is the 30-plus leaving." These are professionals with careers, partners and friends, and many are not planning a return.
That shift sits at the center of "Why Is Everyone Leaving New Zealand?", an 11-minute Bloomberg Originals documentary that drew about 1.1 million views since yesterday. It sets the country's postcard image, the faraway refuge where billionaires buy hideaways, against a record number of working-age citizens heading out.
"Everyone knows someone who's left," says Ainsley Thomson, Bloomberg News's New Zealand bureau chief. Narrated by Angus Bennett, the film moves through a long recession and rising unemployment before looking across the Tasman Sea. Financial commentator Bernard Hickey gives the simplest reason: the same job pays 30 to 40 percent more in Australia, where Kiwis can work freely and the culture feels familiar.
The film's bigger argument is about where New Zealanders keep their money. For decades, households poured savings into houses rather than shares, building what the description calls the world's most extreme housing market. When post-pandemic prices fell and inflation outran wages, "people are feeling much, much poorer," Thomson says. Immigration has refilled the workforce, yet skilled locals keep going.
It is not all gloom. Farming, space technology and gaming are doing well, even as Auckland and Wellington struggle. The government has redesigned investor visas to attract wealthy foreigners, but Thomson's fix is plainer: "The only way to really turn it around is to offer higher wages in New Zealand."
The comments arrived more than ten times faster than on a usual first day for the channel. Many come from New Zealanders now working in Australia or Europe, describing the jobs and homes they found abroad, while Canadian viewers say the story sounds a lot like their own.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
Reason is very simple. Home prices up, rent up, wages not keeping up.
@Saransh_K1See it on YouTubeOne big problem with NZ is it focuses too much on graduate creation and not enough job creation.
@method341See it on YouTube8 years since I left NZ. no way I would have gotten the tech job I have now and be able to afford a house in the Netherlands without leaving. NZ doesn’t have a diverse labour market and cost of living is too high. I wanted to move back to Wellington to be closer to family and my dad basically said don’t and what for when it’s a dying town
@ed3lmiSee it on YouTube
7 more comments
Im a kiwi millennial, I have been in economic decline my whole life. It does not matter how hard I work I can never get ahead...
@newzealandspotlightersasso9181See it on YouTubeNew Zealand has great PR, but the reality is very different. Nice place to visit, completely different place to live.
@stratocastitSee it on YouTubeit's strikingly similar to Canadas problem right now
@purovenezolano14See it on YouTubeSame thing in Canada, most people I graduated with (me included) left to work in the USA. Pay is much better.
@yousif4785See it on YouTubeI left at end on July this year, got made redundant and luckily got a payout. I am now working in Aus and (yes they do have their issues) wages are higher with stronger dollar and super does not come out of pay slip like KiwiSaver - eyes are now opened to the reality it is the only was to get ahead
@AndytheKiwiSee it on YouTubeOhh how very dreadful to come across this right when i am supposed to move to NZ after a difficult experience in the US! But i guess the fact that i was able to get a physician role in Auckland is because kiwi physicians weren’t available in first place. I hope my year in Auckland goes well.
@msharma6346See it on YouTubeIt feels like there’s no growth in NZ. Regardless of the reality, people are deciding to leave
@BigPuffDaddySee it on YouTube
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- Channel
- Bloomberg Originals
- Subscribers
- 5,190,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,743,066
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,848,521 (on a normal day: 850,173)
- Video published
- November 6, 2026
- Video views so far
- 1,714,518 (2 days online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 1,060,988 (on a normal day: 721,792)
The numbers
Views were well above the channel's usual pace for a new documentary, and the comment section was busier still.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which city is the capital of New Zealand?
Wellington has been New Zealand's capital since 1865, although Auckland is its largest city.