Property Council: More analysis needed

The Labour Party put the focus on the country's lack of cheap housing for first-home buyers at its annual conference at the weekend, proposing to put 100,000 families into their first homes, with a 10-year building programme of entry-level houses, called KiwiBuild.

Property Council chief executive Connal Townsent said the Government and opposition needed to look closely all the issues and consider what could be done to address the factors that put up the cost of building.

“This issue is not going to go away until it is adequately addressed from all sides of the unaffordability equation.”

He said a lack of supply of land was a big problem. “There are questions to be answered on where and how greenfield and brownfield land is to be acquired, particularly in Auckland. Consenting fees, development contributions and other levies are also core contributors to the rising price of new houses, with costs often passed to the purchaser – effectively a first home buyer’s tax.”