Property Institute Supports Proposal to Build Southern Auckland City Proposal

Property Institute of New Zealand Chief Executive, Ashley Church, is applauding a Government proposal to investigate building a Southern Auckland City centred around Paerata and says that it represents the sort of big picture thinking that will ultimately resolve the Auckland Housing crisis.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford has flagged the idea of the satellite city which could eventually be capable of housing 500,000 people and could provide homes costing under $500,000 within 30 minutes of the Auckland CBD.

Mr Church says that the plan ticks most of the boxes required to solve Aucklands housing shortage:

“It envisages getting a very large number of homes built relatively quickly, it focuses on Auckland but proposes developing in an area where land prices are still reasonably priced, and it has a strong focus on providing lower cost housing for first home buyers”.

Mr Church says that the proposal is the latest in a series of innovative and practical ideas from the new Housing Minister and bodes well for the housing market.

“We supported Labours ‘Kiwibuild’ policy when they launched it last year – but this shows that they’re actually serious about putting it into action”.

Labours KiwiBuild scheme proposes building 100,000 new residences over the next ten years. The homes would be paid for by a $2 billion fund which would be ‘recycled’ as homes were sold and the funds reinvested to build more houses.

Other initiatives so far announced have included:

• A rent-to-own or similar progressive ownership scheme for first home buyers

• Banning foreign investors from buying residential homes and redirecting them into investment into the construction of new homes

• A ‘tweak’ to immigration numbers that will reduce pressure on housing without completely reversing a successful policy

However, Mr Church says that the Institute still has concerns over a couple of aspects of Labours housing policy and will be watching those areas, with interest.

“We note that the Government will be establishing a New Zealand Housing Commission as an Urban Development Authority and we remain concerned at the very real potential for this to become an anti-democratic bureaucracy that will ride roughshod over private property rights. We would like to see the Government introduce an element of competition into this model to reduce this risk”.

“We’re also eager to see the Government finding ways to mix it’s KiwiBuild scheme with private investment. While a target of 100,000 homes in ten years is laudable and ambitious – it still isn’t fast enough to address the pressing need we have right now – and getting private investors also involved in building new homes is the smartest way to bridge that gap”.

ENDS

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