Bit of 'rubber hitting the road' research on unsold real estate for you.

A real estate consultancy company looked at the amount of unsold stock when it came to apartments in Auckland.

There are a record number. 541 to be precise, which is 20% of everything that has been built in the past three years.

I love apartments, I live in one, I own them, I have owned them.

They are not everyone's cup of tea, but what I have learned over the years, like most things in life, there is always nuance to the story.

I bet you anything you want that the ones that aren't sold, aren't sold for very good reasons. They are crap.

An apartment is no different to a house. A good one will always sell, in a good market or bad. A bad one won't.

The trouble with research and stats is they deal with averages and they round things out.

The apartment market, sadly, has been driven in some respects by ideology.

The apartment would be part of the new, groovy Auckland where you stepped out of your trendy “town pad” onto your public transport, before taking your Lime scooter the final mile to the office.

Now, that's apart from the fact there is no public transport in a way that any first-world city would expect, and because the cost of building went through the roof your apartment, which of course was supposed to be affordable, it now isn't. Well, unless you want to live in 80 square metres, which very few do.

You will not have a car park, because cars are bad, except you like your car, but you've got nowhere to put it.

And that’s before we get to the quality of the build. Unbelievably we are still dealing with leaky buildings, almost as though we are determined not to learn a lesson.

Mix in the mad rush we saw for consents where you build a lot of stuff no one wants, and three years down the track all the good stock got snapped up and what's left is 541 boxes that might, if you're lucky, make a passable rental.

The lesson is do things properly. Give people what they want, not what you want them to have.

Location, size and quality. Get that right and it's hard to go wrong.

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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 29th of January, new data reveals how effective Labour’s Fees Free university scheme was.

National MP Judith Collins discusses her 24 years in Parliament and her decision to retire from politics.

Former rugby union and league great Brad Thorn discusses his success, what drives him, and his new book ‘Champions Do Extra’.

Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Growing outrage in Italy after it was announced ICE agents would be in attendance at the Winter Olympics next month.

The US Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that they will serve a security role, supporting the US diplomatic security service at the Games.

Current and former politicians within Italy are urging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to block the agents’ presence in the wake of two fatal shootings by ICE in Minneapolis.

Italy Correspondent Jo McKenna told Mike Hosking she wouldn’t be surprised to see major protests over this, as people are pretty unhappy with the news.

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A once in a generation player, Brad Thorn has achieved great things on the field.

He’s arguably the greatest code swapper rugby league and union have ever seen, winning the World Cup with the All Blacks, Crusaders titles, NRL titles, and he represented the Kangaroos and played in State of Origin.

Thorn’s had an immense amount of success across his 30-year career, and he’s detailed the lessons he’s learned in his new book, ‘Champions Do Extra’.

The book’s title stems from a sentiment expressed by Thorn’s father when he was younger – encouraging them to take that one extra step when applying themselves to anything.

“If you ask me who was my best coach, I’d say my dad,” he told Mike Hosking.

“A lot of it was around mindset, and y’know, having a positive mindset and putting in the work, bringing the work ethic and then being able to have the belief, to having earned the belief to be able to, y’know, achieve the things you want to achieve and the potential you have.”

While some measure of natural ability is always useful, Thorn believes it's the work you put in that allows you to become great.

“There’s many times with Richie McCaw, there’s different parts of the game that I didn’t initially think he was natural at,” he explained to Hosking.

“But he just worked hard, y’know, and you saw those parts of his game develop.”

“Hard work takes you a long way.”

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A new domestic exchange programme will soon let students swap cities as easily as they swap courses.

Otago, AUT and Victoria University of Wellington have launched Uni Exchange Aotearoa, giving second-year undergraduates the chance to study at another university for a semester.

The scheme offers students a taste of travel without the challenges of going overseas.

Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith told Mike Hosking New Zealand can actually offer a real diversity of experience within its universities.

He says the programme is designed to be at no cost to the students, so the decision can be made on the experience they want to have instead of a financial barrier.

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Economists are expecting the Official Cash Rate to rise sooner rather than later, flattening forecasts for the property market.

Cotality's latest report shows almost three quarters of local respondents expect house prices to rise this year.

Meanwhile, ANZ's slashed its house price inflation forecast for 2026 from 5% to 2%.

ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking the economy can't grow too fast.

She says two hikes are already expected this year.

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St John is dealing with its biggest ever workload.

National ambulance data shows there's been a 30% increase in 111 calls for ambulances over the past five years and a 17% jump in attended incidents.

They fielded over 700 thousand calls last year, and attended more than 550 thousand incidents.

Health Commentator Ian Powell told Mike Hosking ambulance services are mirroring the public hospital system in terms of acute admissions – things that cannot be deferred.

He says that since 2011, the rate of acute admissions has increased at a higher rate than population growth.

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Judith Collins is leaving politics on a high note.

The former National leader and senior MP is stepping back from politics after 24 years, taking up a new role mid-year as Law Commission President.

Since Collins was first elected in 2002, she's held 18 ministerial roles, and is currently the Minister for Defence, Public Service, Space, Digitising Government, and the GCSB and NZSIS, and also the Attorney-General.

She told Mike Hosking she’s become the Mother of the House, and dealing with Parliament is like having 120-something naughty children.

Collins says she feels like it’s time to go, and with 12 years in Opposition and 12 in government, there’s a good symmetry.

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