Mr SPEAKER: Question No 6, Metiria Turei.
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green)
to the Minister for Building and Housing:
Ka tū a ia i runga i te mana o tana kōrero,
"The proportion of NZers living in rental homes
"is not changing dramatically and owner-occupiers will remain
"the dominant living arrangement for most Kiwi families into the future"
i te mea, ā, e ai ki ngā tatauranga hou, nō mai anō
i te tau 1951, i taka ai te hunga whiwhi i tōna ake whare, ki raro rā nō?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing):
Yes. The latest census data has homeownership at 65%,
which is more than double the 31% who are renting.
The 65% compares with 68% in 2001. A decline of 3% since 2001
is not dramatic, and I am confident it will be reversed by the wide-ranging
housing programme the Government has under way, of which the most
important part is freeing up land supply and reform
of the Resource Management Act—which the Greens have consistently opposed.
Metiria Turei: Is the Minister aware that more than half of all Aucklanders
live in rental homes, according to Statistics NZ?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: There is no question that the issues in Auckland
are connected to the flawed policies of a metropolitan urban limit
that has seen house prices more than treble. It is ironic that
the Green members, who have actually championed those tight
urban constraints, now complain about its consequences.
The important thing is that the Government has broken through that
through the use of both the special housing areas and now
Auckland's new unitary plan.
Metiria Turei: Why is the Minister trying to deflect blame
when under this Government's watch Auckland is now the most expensive city
in the world to buy a home in, relative to income?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No, I dispute that. I was in Sydney last week
meeting with the housing Minister of New South Wales, and, actually,
house prices in Sydney have been similar to those in Auckland.
Interestingly, last Friday they embarked on a reform programme
very similar to the new unitary plan and the new policy statements
around urban development that will free up land supply and make homes
more affordable for people like those in the city of Auckland.
Simon O'Connor: How has the affordability of homes changed
since 2000, and what measures does the Government have in place
to improve affordability?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Home affordability was hammered
during the period 2000-2008 when average national house prices
doubled and interest rates went from 6% to 11%. Since 2008,
interest rates have more than halved to the lowest level in 60 years.
Owning a home is actually now 30% more affordable, on average,
across NZ than when we became the Government. The exception is Auckland,
where poor planning policies have artificially driven up land prices,
but the combination of new supply and the unitary plan is now seeing
the house prices there cool.
Metiria Turei: In response to the Minister's admission
that Auckland housing is in a crisis, will he consider
implementing the Green Party's progressive ownership
rent-to-buy programme, which would help Kiwi families,
especially those in Auckland, into their first home and save them
more than $100 a week compared with a commercial mortgage?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have seen the Green Party's housing policies,
and they rely on voodoo economics. That is that somehow the Government—
Hon Bill English: Just like Labour.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Just like Labour; the Minister of Finance
does make the correct analogy— that Labour and the Greens' promise
to build 100,000 homes with less than 1% of the money that is required
is nothing more than a joke.
Metiria Turei: Does the Minister expect that homeownership rates
will continue to fall, given that people who are earning decent incomes,
who would traditionally have been able to buy their homes,
are now shackled with student debt, and for many years after they graduate?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I am confident that Kiwi families will improve
their homeownership with the Government's policies.
For instance, through the new unitary plan there has been
a trebling in the amount of Government support through HomeStart for new buyers.
There has also been an increase to half a billion dollars a year
of support through the KiwiSaver schemes, and it is the maturing
of those initiatives that will reverse a trend
that has been 25 years long.
Metiria Turei: Is the Minister denying the evidence
that came out today that first-home buyers are now having to borrow
something like $400,000 in order to afford their own home;
and what does it say about the Government's economic mismanagement
that university graduates, who used to be able to afford
to buy their own home, now cannot do so because the prices are too high?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I note that if those figures are translated—
and it is actually not $400,000— $340,000 is the average first mortgage,
and with interest rates at the lowest level that they have been
in 60 years, a person would be paying less on average
than they would by renting. But the greatest irony I find
in the Green Party's policy, which it announced just this week,
is that it is going to provide the maximum support for graduates,
who actually have the highest rates of homeownership.
That is where the Government's HomeStart scheme is far more equitable.
Metiria Turei: Why does the Minister not just admit
that his Government's housing and economic policies have failed
when even highly educated, well-paid university graduates cannot afford to buy
their own home in this country?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Quite the contrary; I would draw
the member's attention to the latest OECD report, which shows
that the NZ economy is performing better than pretty much
any other economy in the OECD. Secondly, in respect of housing,
the boom in the level of housing that is being built across NZ,
now up to nearly 30,000 homes per year, shows that
the Government's measures to increase supply are working.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 7.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community