5. Housing—Cost of a KiwiBuild House and Trade TrainingHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentHousing—Cost of a KiwiBuild House and Trade Training5. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Does he stand by all his statements on the proposed Kiwibuild programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Yes in the context in which they were given.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When he stated We're going to build 100000 affordable homes for young Kiwi families to buy." what was the Minister's definition of affordable?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Our definition of affordable for KiwiBuild is that we'll be building houses in Auckland under $600000 and at a lower price bracket in other markets around the country.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When he stated "You are probably going to have a household income I would guess $60000 plus to buy a KiwiBuild property straight up." is the "plus" he referred to plus another $54000 as illustrated by Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advice that a first-home buyer would need to be earning $114000 to purchase a $500000 KiwiBuild house?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The MBIE advice was based on a particular set of assumptions—for example a $500000 cost a 10 percent deposit a 25-year repayment term and a 5.8 percent interest rate which is actually higher than people are paying currently on a fixed term. I note that CoreLogic estimated last year that nearly half of all first-home buyers in Auckland are buying houses over $750000.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Will he now ask for that advice to be updated given that he himself has accepted that the best case for Auckland is a $600000 KiwiBuild price point and that would increase the earnings requirement to around $130000 a year?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well as I've said the MBIE advice was based on a very particular set of assumptions that I don't think were necessarily useful.Hon Michael Woodhouse: In light of his statement "We're going to throw open the doors of the polytechs; we're going to massively increase apprenticeships in the construction trades; we're going to grow the local workforce." how many more trade training places have been established by the Government this year?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We're looking at a number of options to increase the capacity of the construction sector. We're going to be recruiting overseas for skilled tradespeople. We are going to increase trade training and apprenticeships but I'll tell you this: we aren't going to sit around wringing our hands like the last Government who did nothing to grow the construction workforce for nine years.Paul Eagle: What other statements has the Minister seen on the KiwiBuild programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I have seen one curious statement that the housing crisis is only a crisis for those unable to find a house and that the real problem is a failure to communicate which will be news to those people sleeping in cars at night. That statement was by the new Leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges.SPEAKER: I'm now going to warn the Government that that sort of patsy—it took a little while to work it out because it wasn't until the end that it became clear from whom it was but that sort of patsy is out of order and will not be tolerated in the future. As a result of that the Opposition will have two further supplementary questions.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Does he stand by his statement "Ah yes." when asked whether he staked his job on the success of KiwiBuild?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I would take the member more seriously if he offered to resign when we've built 100000 houses by July 2028."