11 October 2016

Apartment buyers’ dreams crushed while Govt stands by

First home buyers left in the lurch after apartment-building projects collapsed deserve more support from the Government, who told them to buy apartments in the first place, the Green Party said today.

Thirty five apartment projects have reportedly collapsed in Auckland in the last 12 months, including in Special Housing Areas, consisting of more than 2000 new homes.

“John Key said first home buyers should be looking at apartments, but what are these people supposed to do when the apartment projects they’ve bought into collapse, leaving their home-ownership dreams in tatters?” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

“If rising construction costs are the issue, the Government should be looking at what it can do to make sure apartment builders have access to enough finance to cover construction costs.

“The Government can help keep construction costs down by using its purchasing power to buy in bulk, to build affordable housing.

“The market is clearly broken if developers trying to build affordable homes can’t get enough finance, while property speculators can borrow easily to buy their fifth or sixth investment property.

“The truth is that the market isn’t geared to provide enough houses or apartments by itself, and so the Government should have started building thousands of affordable homes years ago,” Mrs Turei said.

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