LVRs a failed experiment from Bill English

Loan to value mortgage restrictions are a failed experiment from Bill English to tame Auckland house prices, that have caused collateral damage to first home buyers and other regions, says Labour's Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“The possible end of LVR mortgage restrictions is good news for first home buyers struggling to get into the market and for those in regions where house prices aren’t spiralling out of control like Auckland or Christchurch.

“They have caused more harm than good with house prices falling in the regions and first home buyers being shut out of the market.

“The restrictions were too blunt and the impacts weren’t considered properly. The home ownership dream has been put at risk.

“Bill English signed up to LVRs in a desperate attempt to tame the Auckland property market. But it wasn’t until after he gave the Reserve Bank the green light to use them that he asked Treasury to consider the impacts on first home buyers and the regions.

“Unfortunately the horse had already bolted. The only winners were property speculators.

“According to CoreLogic, 45 per cent of sales go to speculators, with just 19 per cent going to first home buyers. That’s not the country New Zealanders want to live in.

“The LVRs are a symbol of National’s failed housing policy, badly thought through and poorly implemented,” says Phil Twyford.

ends

© Scoop Media