our taxes pay for nicer offices for bureaucrats

Was flicking through the Sunday Star Times this morning and then DPF reminded me to blog on the influence of the public sector on Wellington rents

Government beauracrats have increased by a third since the election. The Health Ministry beauracracy has increased by 131% - nearly as much as the increase in waiting lists. They need more space for offices, so they have not only moved into one of the flashest and closest buildings to Parliament, they`ve upgraded it as well. The building even has an underground tunnel to Parliament so bureaucrats don't have to cross the road.

The public sector now occupies 40 percent of office space in Wellington. It has grown at the same time as the private sector has upped shop and moved to Auckland and Sydney. An increase of more than 28,000 square meters has been leased by the public sector during the past year. This leads to private sector rents going up. This also leads to residential rates increasing.

Its a good time to be a commercial property developer in Wellington. It will be interesting to see monetary equivalent figures for
increased productivity since 1999, and see how that figure compares with increased staff, wages, public sector office space, petrol and company cars.