‘Build more affordable city homes’
Hamilton is scrambling to get the Government’s KiwiBuild programme across the line as million dollar houses become the norm.
Mayor Andrew King briefed councillors this week saying he’s been given a directive from the Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford to quicken the pace of building affordable homes in the city.
There is growing concern in Wellington at the number of $1 million houses being built in the city, he said.
‘‘He’s asked us to come up with ideas on how we accelerate KiwiBuild and affordable housing in Hamilton,’’ King said.
‘‘He wants to see houses in the city offered below the median house price which is $537,000.’’
Million dollar properties are becoming the ‘new normal’, according to city realtors.
A 500sqm section in Rototuna can cost more than $400,000. Build a $600,000 four bedroom, two bathroom home on it and it tops the $1m mark.
To achieve the KiwiBuild programme, and take the sting out of the market, King wants changes to the special housing area legislation that would see up to 40 per cent of homes sold to first home and qualified buyers and for decision making on those areas to be made by council, rather than central government, which would save time.
‘‘We need to move reasonably quickly but that’s difficult because legislation takes a long time to get through. As we know, developers want high yield and greater flexibility and a faster pace and the Government wants to see greater provision for affordable housing.’’
Councillor Angela O’Leary said the Government has a lot of catching up to do from the previous government to achieve its aims. She urged a cautious approach.
‘‘I wouldn’t want us to carry that financial burden on going down that route,’’ O’Leary said.
Twyford said the Government wants to encourage the building of as many affordable houses as possible.
‘‘We are working closely with Mayor Andrew King and the Hamilton City Council to achieve this,’’ Twyford said.
Veros property development manager Daniel Kirk said a perfect storm of high land prices, high material costs and high labour costs, together with bureaucracy too slow to open developable land, has pushed the average house price ‘‘far too high for far too long’’.
‘‘Council is catching up,’’ Kirk said.
‘‘What they are doing at Peacockes and Rotokauri is good and they have finally come around to the idea section sizes need to be smaller and inner city living is being developed but it’s been too slow in coming.
‘‘Now it’s really been about everybody getting on that page and working together.’’
Alternative building methods like prefabricated modular construction could hold the solution.
‘‘Just because it’s a relocatable, doesn’t mean it’s cheap and nasty,’’ Kirk said.
‘‘The speed of delivery for products like that is massive. Different building methods, in general, is what people need to start looking at.’’