You cant compare New Zealand with other countries and their solutions. Condo's and apartments don't work for Auckland, the entire premise of the country is outdoor living, why would you move to a country in the middle of nowhere, the only attraction is the natural beauty, to live in a artificial environment with no outdoor space? It would be like moving to the rain forest and living in a sky scrapper. Condos make sense in America where it's always to hot or to cold but New Zealanders are shamed if they spend too much time indoors. The enjoyment of condos comes from online shopping and restaurants, but NZ has the highest shipping costs and the culture is to cook at home.

The whole point of NZ is everyone gets their slice of paradise, but once you move to apartment territory your just dealing with population management, quality of life goes down and disconnection with the land breeds mental deficits that bleed into policy (every country has it's hatred of people from Paris/Toronto etc). One of the nightmares of NZ is that it's beaches turns into Hawaii's with giant hotels and thousands crowding the surf.

It's a fundamental difference in thinking that foreign investors are not aware of, they just try to shoehorn their learnt development strategy into the place. It has bad effects on the locals on many levels and turning NZ into another branch of starbucks just makes it loose all appeal.

The problem is for the quality of lifestyle NZ'er expect, there is a population limit. Fortunately increasing population is no longer needed for economic growth.