More land 'not the answer'

Gary Taylor told the NZ Herald today that Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling was thinking only of his firm’s own pockets when he said expanding Auckland’s urban limits to create more housing would lower prices.

"Fletcher, with its market dominance, stands to make a fortune out of building more houses. But that won't make housing more affordable. It will, however, contribute to Fletcher's excessive profit-taking, which is a big part of the problem," Taylor said.

Taylor told the paper it was an urban myth that more land brought cheaper houses.

"It won't make any real dent on cost because raw land value - a greenfield site before it's subdivided and developed - is only around 10 to 15% of the total value of a new house and land package," Taylor said.