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Homebuilding shortfall overshadows election

A Property Institute survey released today shows the consequences of our dire homebuilding rate, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Today’s survey showed that two thirds of voters will be thinking of housing policy while they vote. And looking at building figures released yesterday, it’s not hard to see why.

“Yesterday Stats NZ confirmed that the value of residential building in the March quarter decreased 0.8% from the previous quarter, the first fall in building activity for two years. This comes despite the fact population growth and political pressure on housing are higher than ever.

“This backs up a 30-year trend of under-building. By one measure, we’re left with a shortage of 500,000 homes – this is how many more houses we would have if we’d continued building at the same rate we achieved until the ‘80s.

“How on earth are we getting worse at building? ACT knows the answer. New Zealand has plenty of land to build on, but red tape has created an artificial land shortage. The biggest culprit is the Resource Management Act, which was intended to protect pristine environments but instead has put a stranglehold on housing supply. Tinkering hasn’t worked. We’ve already reformed the Act 19 times. ACT would replace the RMA entirely with new land use laws that give people the freedom to build and meet demand for housing.

“Then there’s red tape putting costs on building. ACT would replace current standards with a more flexible insurance regime that would allow developers to use new building methods and materials, so long as they shoulder the costs if things go wrong.

“We’d also make the Government give half of the GST generated by new builds to the local council for use on infrastructure. This would ensure infrastructure keeps up with housing supply, while also incentivising councils to approve new development.”

ENDS


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