Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 30 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7595. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
4. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement that “I am keen to see New Zealanders be able to afford to buy a home” given that the home ownership rate has continued to decline under his watch and home buying is becoming less affordable? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes I am keen to see New Zealanders being able to afford to buy a home. That is why a comprehensive work programme will be under way to address the real issues of housing affordability which are to do with land supply building and resource consents and the costs of building and materials. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Prime Minister aware that since his Government came to office seven Resource Management Act amendment bills and 11 local government amendment bills have been put before the House and none has improved home affordability so why on earth would anyone believe that doing the same thing is going to get a different result? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly I would reject the proposition that none has done anything. Secondly maybe the argument is that they have not gone far enough. But the new one probably will. 
Metiria Turei 
: Why will he not support a policy by which the Government’s low cost of capital is shared with young families to help them buy their first home as past National Governments did and as the Greens have proposed in our progressive ownership policies? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do not think that is actually going to resolve the fundamental issue. I mean if one wants to talk about interest rates interest rates got up to around about 11 percent under the previous Government. They are at about 5 percent at the moment so they are not an awfully long way away from the Government borrowing rate and they are an awfully long way away from where they were at levels of 20-odd percent and higher in our previous history. So yes interest rates are a big factor but that is why good economic management is important. Of course if one were to get out there and print billions of dollars that would put inflation up that would put mortgage rates up and of course that would have Russel Norman having New Zealanders paying a lot more for their mortgage. I am sure they would be very disappointed about that. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does he not agree that our home building programme for homes averaging around $300000 plus a progressive ownership scheme that is deposit and mortgage-free for young families would give young families that pathway to owning those homes and therefore reverse the major decline that we have seen in homeownership rates? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No but can I congratulate the member on at least sticking to arguing that they are going to build a four-bedroom home in Auckland for $300000 or less because Labour is up at $550000 now and it will probably be $750000 by next week. 
Metiria Turei 
: Why does the Prime Minister continue to oppose any option that sees the Government help kids into safe secure and stable homes when that was exactly what the Government did when he was a child? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well I reject that proposition. The Government spends $2 billion on accommodation supplements and support alone. 
Louise Upston 
: What reports if any has he received on alternative policies regarding housing affordability? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well I have seen a report of a policy that would use the National Land Transport Fund interestingly enough to pay for a rent-to-buy housing scheme. The people who put up this policy seem to be unaware that the funding is collected from road users through fuel excise and road-user charges. Paying for houses from the National Land Transport Fund would cause serious problems for the funding of other things like road maintenance road policing and of course public transport which I am sure the Greens would be very concerned about. But oh wait—that is right—it is the Greens’ policy. 
Metiria Turei 
: Did the Prime Minister listen to Connal Townsend of the Property Council today who said that were thousands of available sections in Auckland but the problem was that private developers could not build affordable housing on them and still meet their profit margins? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. I have seen reports from the Property Council that say that there are probably about 4000 to 5000 commercially viable sections available. I have seen reports from Len Brown that there could be 15000 sections available although that number is being drilled into rapidly as I speak. It started at 20000 and we are at 15000. It might be a bit lower. The interesting thing here of course is that if the Auckland Spatial Plan is right then Auckland will need 13000 new dwellings a year for each of the next 30 years. So even if there are 15000 it is a year and a bit’s supply. 
Metiria Turei 
: If the Prime Minister truly believes that building a $300000 home in Auckland is impossible as he said has he never visited his own electorate and taken a look at homes such as those on Hobsonville Road Cyril Crescent and Mona Vale that are stand-alone family homes costing around $300000? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I have and I have also seen reports from another member of this House that it is possible to get a four-bedroom home for less than $480000 in Hobsonville. In fact actually yes there are properties being built in Hobsonville for around $400000 or less. They are one-person studios at the lowest end or two or maybe three-bedroom terraced houses on 130 square metres. Actually the average house price in Auckland is considerably higher than that of course. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Is he satisfied with the progress made in actioning the recommendations of the Productivity Commission and the Auditor-General in relation to affordable housing? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I am satisfied we are making progress. We have picked up almost all of the recommendations in the Productivity Commission’s report and we have established a comprehensive work programme with four key aims: increasing the land supply reducing delays and costs of Resource Management Act processes associated with housing improving the timely provision of infrastructure to support new housing and improving productivity in the construction sector. Obviously there is a lot more work that we want to do and much will be the responsibility of local councils. We have also made changes to Kainga Whenua to promote housing on multiple-owned Maori land which is included not the least of them being the increase in the income gap from $120000 per borrower to $160000 to ensure that trusts are now eligible. 
Metiria Turei 
: Given that there are homes for sale for around $300000 in his own electorate will the Prime Minister now concede that the problem is not that building a $300000 home in Auckland is impossible but that there are not enough of them and it is not in the interests of private developers to build more of them and that that is why we need a Government-led building and progressive ownership programme of affordable homes for young Kiwi families who desperately need them? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Look in relation to the last point no. In relation to the first one I have never said you cannot buy a house for $300000 or less in New Zealand. What I have said is that it is disingenuous to argue that that is a four-bedroom home. And guess what? As I said yesterday David Shearer had a road to Damascus experience—or actually it was a road to Ponsonby experience—and realised that it would cost a lot more than $300000.