$750m spend locks out firsthome buyers, Nats say

WELLINGTON: National is accusing the Government of locking firsthome buyers out of the market by buying $750 million worth of houses from the private sector.

Housing Minister Megan Woods has defended the Government’s actions, saying the spending was needed to plug the state housing gap left by the previous National government.

Dr Woods was questioned on the topic by National housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis in Parliament yesterday afternoon.

Ms Willis said Kainga Ora had spent $750 million over the past three and ahalf years on buying property across the country to turn into state homes.

She received the information through a written question, which showed 1053 homes the Government agency had bought from the private market.

The response to her question pointed out the 1053 homes were part of the 6131 public houses the Government had delivered.

The majority of those 1053 homes — more than 660 — were in Auckland, but there were houses across the country on the list. Ms Willis said this had locked firsthome buyers out of the market.

‘‘There’s no way struggling Kiwis who are trying to buy their first home can outbid Kainga Ora.

‘‘Changing the label on whether a house is state owned or not does nothing except change who misses out,’’ she said.

Ms Willis also said New Zealand’s state housing waiting list was ‘‘spiralling out of control’’.

The waiting list had increased from 6182 in December 2017, to 22,409 in November 2020, Dr Woods confirmed.

‘‘Rather than move houses from one category to the next, the minister should get on with addressing the root causes of our housing shortage by taking urgent action to remove the planning and regulatory measures preventing new housing supply,’’ Ms Willis said.

The timeframe over which the housing agency had been buying the homes started in 201718, so some could have been bought while National was in government.

But Dr Woods said in the House there had been a steady decline in the number of buyins that Kainga Ora had been doing.

‘‘This was an agency that had to reequip itself to actually build houses rather than sell them off, as had been happening under the previous government.’’

Yesterday’s figures came after Dr Woods was forced to reveal the Government’s Progressive Home Ownership scheme had housed just 12 families since it was announced in 2019.

The programme, which cost $400 million, was launched as part of the ‘‘reset’’ of the failed KiwiBuild programme.