Government to address home affordability

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Govt to address home affordability

3News NZ

The Greens want more city housing, as opposed to sprawl

The Greens want more city housing, as opposed to sprawl

Labour says tinkering with the Resource Management Act will not address a housing affordability crisis while the Greens want denser housing in Auckland rather than sprawl on the fringes of the city.

They took up their positions ahead of an announcement on Monday on home affordability after Cabinet considers a paper on the issue.

Finance Minister Bill English told TVNZ's Q+A programme on Sunday that the Government would outline changes to local government legislation and the Resource Management Act.

There "may be some changes in the balance of Government influence with councils to enable better supply", he said.

Auckland needs 10,000 new houses a year to keep up with demand.

Greens housing spokeswoman Holly Walker says the Government should not relax Auckland's development boundaries when existing plans already allow for 280,000 new dwellings over the next 30 years.

"Medium-density, small dwellings centred around existing community amenities with good transport and recreational services is a better model for helping the average first home buyer in Auckland get a foot on the property ladder," she said.

Labour's Annette King says innovative measures and a real partnership with councils are needed.

"Bill English seems to think the housing affordability crisis can be solved by the usual National party hobbyhorses of weakening the Resource Management Act and lowering standards for property developers.

"Such changes will only be tinkering around the edges for thousands of Kiwis. The Government clearly doesn't realise that the main problem is affordable housing for low and moderate income earners, who just can't find houses."

NZN

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Comments

30/10/2012 9:52:41 a.m.

David Curl wrote:

Dave. The fact your buddy now has placed a second faily into an area means the current reserves for their recreation may need to be upgraded. With 2 kids the local sports fields will be used more. You are a sad man for blaming counils when the banks and private industry are at fault. The National Partu are looking only for scapegoats here, not results. Property investment is at fault. The easiest way to stop speculation is a 15% capital gains tax on every house not used as a persons primary residence.

30/10/2012 9:46:55 a.m.

David Curl wrote:

What the government is doing will bring the price down by not 1 cent. That is because the fundamental right of a roof over a persons head is the number 1 economic factor in the NZ economy. Timber is 30% more in NZ than in OZ and other building items range from being 10 to 30% more expensive here. Wages are akin to slave so is it any wonder the people cannot afford houses. Local Councils fees make up less than 10% of the cost of a new house and land. By gutting this part will mean savings of little more than 2% of the whole house. The only way to bring the house price down to more akin to the real value is a 15% Capital Gains tax or a 1% financil transaction tax. But Bill's Masters will not like that.

29/10/2012 11:10:14 a.m.

jan.. wrote:

Housing Corporation should build state houses to pay morgages for up to 15-30 years instead of paying rent then perhaps the people would eventually be intererested in finding employments to meet their mortgaged payments. Bill English and his Pal's of leaky homes are finished far as the people of New Zealand are concerns.

29/10/2012 11:07:19 a.m.

Greg wrote:

Who wants a bet Aucklands building consent fee's take a massive hike to keep the rates increase looking good for Lens next term.
=A box of beer under the sky tower.

29/10/2012 10:57:53 a.m.

Greg wrote:

I'm a single working man, no children never married earning 42k, at 49 the banks wouldnt even look at me for a housing loan.
The government introduced the Resource management act which gives councils a licience to print money through exhorbinant fees n levy gauging.
Its time to either dump or streamline the RMA, its crippling local economies.

29/10/2012 10:49:05 a.m.

Robert wrote:

NZ authorities have a penchant for adopting and following the fashionable failed foibles of foreign bodies which in their eyes might be a sop suitable to silence the sustained and serious evaluations of experts opposing the systems and "solutions" stupidly being instituted.

29/10/2012 9:56:56 a.m.

dave wrote:

You could start by stopping the theft by councils of excess charges that they heap onto people wanting to subdevide. the reserves chanrge for a start. has a friedn who subdevided a town section and was charged over $7000.00 by the local council on the pretext of a reserves fund. Plain theft

29/10/2012 9:54:04 a.m.

Bart wrote:

High density housing won't solve anything, they are already knocking up terraced type high density style housing and when a basic 2-3 bedroom house is going for $350K-$400K it's not affordable for the first time house buyer. To make housing affordable they need to sort out the high costs of local council housing permits and stop the almost monopoly type supply situation around building supplier in NZ as well as the extremely high cost of having basic serviced hooked up to a new dwelling. NZ is all about clipping the ticket and that philosophy starts at the top in government. I hate to say it but some sort of capital gains tax is the way to go forward, that will stop folks using the NZ housing market to make a quick buck on housing/rents. Either that or the government changes the way the reserve bank control monetary policy (using inflation as the primary guide line), ohh that's right they missed that boat when they hired the new reserve bank governor.....

29/10/2012 9:46:24 a.m.

Vicki wrote:

you have to ask yourself, why are our house prices so high? And why can't Bill English answer this question properly. The reason they are high is because the private banking sector creates money from thin air electronically which they then pump into the economy, partly through housing loans, which are far too readily available. These loans with very low interest rates drive up the house prices as people 'invest' in private dwellings, which are not investments at all, but the places we are meant to live in, and have access to as a society. The banks would rather do this than lend to businesses, which are high risk, with housing they can always foreclose and take the house back. So the system is fundamentally flawed at the top, and unfortunately a decent debate is unlikely on these issues as the banking sector ensure countries depend on their 'out of thin air' money to survive. Why is it countries are forced to bail out banks when their unsustainable systems collapse - because without these private banks staying afloat the fall out would be massive and people in society would start asking the very questions we need to ask about the banking sector. Money is everything in this world, it controls everything so as a citizen I demand a change to a system that is sustainable.