4. Question No. 4—Housing and Urban DevelopmentHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 4—Housing and Urban Development4. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: How many houses built bought or underwritten by the KiwiBuild programme are contracted and scheduled to be ready for owner occupation by 1 July 2019 and when will the first KiwiBuild houses in Te Kauwhata be completed?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): To date over 4000 KiwiBuild homes are contracted to be built and nearly 10000 KiwiBuild homes are planned to be built in our large-scale developments including at Unitec Māngere Porirua and Mount Roskill. In terms of the year one target 278 homes are contracted at this point and scheduled for completion in the 2018-19 year with many more under negotiation. KiwiBuild staff are working closely with developers to finalise contracts like the one we announced last week: the Wellington Co.'s apartment developments in Mount Cook and Lower Hutt. We're working hard towards the targets we've set. We knew it would be hard and we had to start from a standing start. The first KiwiBuild homes in Te Kauwhata are expected to be completed by Christmas 2019 and available for occupation in 2020.Hon Judith Collins: If after being a Minister for over a year he has only been able to confirm 278 houses can he confirm he cannot plausibly achieve his target of 1000 houses by July next year?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I've confirmed that we've had 4000 KiwiBuild homes under contract and another 10000 that will be built in the large-scale projects. I'm really positive about the progress we've made. We're doing something that no Government has done in the last 40 years working directly with builders and developers to build affordable homes for first-home buyers.Hon Judith Collins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: Well no I don't think the member needs one. The Minister will now answer the question.Hon Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was in two parts. The Minister clearly addressed the first part of the question which was how many homes had been contracted. The second part of the question related specifically to the current year. The Minister is not obliged to answer two parts of the question. If the member wants to ask two questions at once she could ask two questions rather than have to ask a two-part question.SPEAKER: I may be wrong but I think the Leader of the House has conflated the primary question and the supplementary that was asked. I will just to make things absolutely clear ask my learned colleague the Hon Judith Collins to re-ask her question.Hon Judith Collins: Thank you Mr Speaker. If after being a Minister for over a year he has only been able to confirm 278 houses can he confirm he cannot plausibly achieve his target of 1000 houses by July next year?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: It's never been the expectation that contracts for completion in the 2018-19 year would be signed evenly throughout the year. The construction of these homes will be more lumpy than I would have liked because as the member knows it takes a while to put these developments together. But we are doing everything we can to build affordable homes for first-home buyers which is more than I can say for that party's Government over the last nine years.Hon Judith Collins: How long must Te Kauwhata developer keep the 10 houses already balloted on the market before they are able to offer them to buyers who are not first-home buyers?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I don't believe that amount of time has been set but I would note that the homes at Te Kauwhata are not due to be completed for nearly a year and a half. There's plenty of time to sell those homes and the developer is very comfortable with the time frames involved.Hon Judith Collins: If houses are sold for a price lower than the agreed underwrite price which Crown account will this cost come from?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The underwrite for those homes is at a lower level a lower price than the price that they have been marketed for.Hon Judith Collins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was: if that happens which Crown account will this cost come from?SPEAKER: And it is a hypothetical and therefore the Minister has more flexibility in answering than he might have otherwise.Hon Judith Collins: Is it acceptable that a Minister with access to a deep pool of official advice would contract to underwrite $2 billion worth of property off the plans and then explain that they are learning as they go?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We're not contracting $2 billion worth of property off the plans.