“Labour got elected five and a half years ago on a bold promise to fix housing, the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability report shows they’ve only made things worse,” says ACT Deputy Leader and Housing spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

“The report states: ‘Auckland has a severely unaffordable median multiple of 10.8. This is a modest improvement from last year, but still up the equivalent of two years in median household income from pre-pandemic 2019. Auckland ranks 88th in affordability out of 94 markets’.

“Auckland’s median house price is 10.8 times the median household income. There are 87 markets more affordable than Auckland, the markets that are less affordable like Sydney, Vancouver, Honolulu, San Jose and Los Angeles have lower interest rates.

“New Zealand buyers get the double whammy of high property prices and rocketing interest rates. Interest rates in New Zealand are 1-2 per cent higher than other markets classified as severely unaffordable.

“The number one driver of poverty and inequality in New Zealand for the past three decades has been the rising cost of housing. A whole generation finds home ownership is an unattainable goal unless they have parental support. That is not the Kiwi dream of equal opportunity, it leads to young New Zealanders seeking opportunity in other countries.

“Housing is unaffordable because it is too difficult and expensive to build enough homes. One problem is infrastructure funding, another problem is expensive building material and red tape.

“ACT has policy to address all of these issues. Whether it is my Member’s Bill to share GST on consents to fund infrastructure, or the Materials Equivalence Register which would ensure more competition and address supply issues around building materials.

“These simple changes would put New Zealand in a much better place to go forward as a more united, less divided community, with more housing built for the next generation.

“With successive Governments failing on housing it is clear real change is needed. ACT has the policies to make housing more affordable.”

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