Property websites offering buyers statistics on the ethnic makeup of various suburbs is a symptom of New Zealanders' unspoken racial bias, an Auckland University professor says.
QV has been offering buyers statistics on the racial makeup of an area for some time, and NZME's new property website OneRoof, launched last year, has now followed suit.
QV said in a statement that "many buyers use this data to assist their buying decisions" and that it "enables buyers to purchase in locations that support their cultural integration into New Zealand".
However, Auckland University Associate Professor of Pacific Studies Damon Salesa, speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast today, said in most cases it actually encourages the racial segregation already rampant in Auckland.
"When you deliver that knowledge [to buyers] ... they're actually using it to steer clear of those areas," he told Breakfast.
"It's problematic not because the service is being provided, but because people want the service.
"To be frank, Aucklanders need to recognise - and admit - that they use the racial makeup of neighbourhoods to decide where they wish to live ... we need to have a hard conversation about that.
"Every Aucklander knows that some parts of Auckland concentrate Maori and Pacific people, and it doesn't take a genius to find that houses are cheaper there - yet people complain about house prices when there are available houses in these other parts of the city.
"You can actually save $300,000 or $400,000 by living there - but people are choosing not to live there ... there are free-standing homes in Auckland for less than half a million dollars in many of these neighbourhoods - as long as you're willing to live in the places where people may not be like you."
Both QV and OneRoof said in their statements that the information is publicly available, and that it is provided among numerous other datasets.
Mr Salesa said many would like to think they are simply trying to find a home with people like themselves - but in truth, "we didn't get here by accident".
"If it was just about 'birds of a feather', I think no one would have a problem with that, but behind it we know that these neighbourhoods are not equal," Mr Salesa said.
"Most of Auckland has extreme concentration ... there are 350 neighbourhoods that are almost entirely Pacific in Auckland.
"That's something that all Aucklanders know, but they don't talk about, and that they use to make all sorts of decisions.
"We have to think about our values as a society - most New Zealanders profess diversity and inclusion, and they wouldn't think it was OK if you made that as a positive statement, like, 'oh, we're not living there because we'd just rather live in an all-white neighbourhood'.
"That is a prime motivation behind the housing market in New Zealand, and particularly in Auckland, it explains the pricing structure."
OneRoof said in its statement that their website is currently in a beta version which is "allowing us to test what our audience would also like added or removed over time".
QV Statement
"With NZ's high immigration creating cultural diversity ... many buyers use this data to assist their buying decisions.
"It enables buyers to purchase in locations that support their cultural integration into New Zealand.
"Other census datasets that provide guidance include the proportion of home ownership versus renters and age distributions of different locations."
Oneroof Statement
"Our aim is to provide the most content rich property site with as many publicly available data and statistics housed in one place, making it easier for people looking for property, whether they be in New Zealand or overseas.
"The information under our cultural diversity section is sourced from Statistics NZ data and is publicly available.
"There is a range of publicly available information that people access before making property decisions and the beta version of OneRoof aims to make as many of those sources available in one convenient location.
"The beta site also includes information such as commute times, property demographics, public facilities, restaurants and many, many more items and it is allowing us to test what our audience would also like added or removed over time, to ensure it offers the most relevant information and best possible experience."
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