Phil Twyford
Housing spokesperson

14 November 2014

The Government has to listen to Olly

When even hard boiled property investors like Olly Newland say first home buyers have been shafted by Loan to Value Ratio lending restrictions, surely it is time for the Government to listen, says Labour's housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

"Auckland landlord Olly Newland said today that under LVRs first home buyers have disappeared from the market because they cannot raise the minimum deposit, leaving the market to property investors and the wealthy.

"Olly Newland knows it. Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler admits it. First home buyers throughout the country know it. Are Nick Smith and Bill English and John Key the only ones left in New Zealand who don't accept their housing policy has driven from the market the very people they should be trying to protect?

"Olly Newland says speculators are buying up the cheap houses that first home buyers should be buying, and they are 'having a great time'.

"The Reserve Bank should not be the fall guy here. They were backed into a corner by the Government's failure to get a grip on the housing crisis. LVRs were a last ditch attempt to dampen the Auckland market. Reserve Bank Governor admitted to the select committee this week that the Government's failure to build more houses in Auckland meant LVRs had to continue for the foreseeable future.

"National's housing policy is a failure, and first home buyers are the collateral damage."

ENDS

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