> housing prices are extremely high. I don't understand that, there is plenty of space everywhere (maybe except Wellington) and somehow they manage to not use this advantage..

Call it an experiment in whether they can build a country around American tech billionaires. I would wonder whether the prices of things reflect that, and whether it's different if you're a native (or whether there's some other mechanism at work: in Vermont, I pay less for housing because I'm able to declare my home as a homestead. If I was an out-of-stater keeping a summer house in Vermont I'd be paying a different rate.)

It will be interesting to see how New Zealand deals with its influx of hyper-wealthy. That will probably continue until we invent the intercontinental ballistic pitchfork ;)