Thursday 26th of April 2007

Connal Townsend, chief executive of the Property Council, says a range of measures passed by Parliament and administered by the local government sector have combined to create a crisis in housing affordability, which is destroying the ability of young New Zealanders to own their own home.

“Never before has it been so difficult to own your own home. And the most frustrating thing about this is New Zealand’s housing affordability crisis was entirely predictable,” Townsend says.

The Property Council says land containment and development contribution policies and delays in building projects due to complicated compliance regulations have contributed to the crisis.

To make housing more affordable, it says fundamental policy changes are needed, including:
·    amending district plans to provide for more ‘greenfield’ land for residential development;
·    raising height limits to provide for greater town centre intensification and the construction of apartments;
·    amending the Local Government Act 2002 to tighten the rules that currently allow territorial authorities to levy development contributions; and
·    reducing the cost and time allowed for the issuing of both building and resource consent applications, and code compliance certificates.