3. Housing—Homeownership RatesJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime MinisterHousing—Homeownership Rates3. JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: Does he still stand by all his Government's policies after eight years?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.James Shaw: When he told the Contractors Federation in 2007 that National had a plan for solving a severe home affordability and ownership crisis" why is the home affordability and ownership crisis worse now than it was then?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have all of the data with me but what was clear back in 2007 was that the then Labour Government had no answers and no response to the issue.James Shaw: Why does he now believe that falling homeownership rates are because young people prefer to rent when he said in 2007: "National will be resolute in our commitments to the goal of ensuring that more young Kiwis can aspire to buying their own home."?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: One of the ways of proving that is there are more Kiwis in work than before more young New Zealanders are choosing to stay in New Zealand than go overseas and the Government has established the KiwiSaver HomeStart programme which was never there before. Core base interest rates are a quarter of what they were back then—Mr SPEAKER: Order!James Shaw: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was around falling homeownership rates and the Prime Minister has not addressed that.Mr SPEAKER: On this occasion I will invite the member to ask the question again. Could I just ask for a little bit of assistance from my left-hand side. I found it very difficult to listen to the answer because of the barrage that was coming from my immediate left.James Shaw: Why does he now believe that falling homeownership rates are because young people prefer to rent when he said in 2007: "National will be resolute in our commitments to the goal of ensuring that more young Kiwis can aspire to buying their own home."?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The basis of the member's question is either too narrowly stated or out of context.James Shaw: When he said in 2007 that homeownership rates were predicted to plummet over the next decade and given that they are now at the lowest levels in 60 years are we to now understand that that was in fact an election promise?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The election took place in 2008.James Shaw: When he promised in 2010 that his signature tax shift would discourage excessive borrowing and housing speculation does he consider it a failure that a record 46 percent of Auckland homes are now being sold to investors and speculators?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: We reject parts of the member's question but there have always been investors in the market. As I have said on numerous occasions and in fact as supported by both the incoming advice from the Minister for Building and Housing and the advice from Statistics New Zealand to the previous Labour Government there have been a wide range of reasons why homeownership rates have declined over the last 30 years—over the last 30 years. One of them is societal changes—clearly rising house prices also has an impact.James Shaw: Given that the most common length of time for an Aucklander to hold on to a property is now less than 1 year is it fair to say that after 8 years of his Government's housing policies Auckland is a speculator's paradise?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly for anybody who sells property other than their main family home in under 2 years they are subject to the Government's brightline test. Even if they do buy a family home and sell it within 1 year they would also need to satisfy the intent rules as established by the Inland Revenue Department. I think when the member says—if I have understood his question correctly—that the average hold time is now 1 year I think that is factually nonsense. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I want to call the next supplementary question but we cannot have the discussion occurring between the two front benches. James Shaw: What has changed since 2007 when he said that rapidly rising house prices threatened a fundamental part of our culture our communities and ultimately our economy?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: A lot has changed. New Zealanders have decided that this a good country to stay and live or to return to as opposed to the 35000 a year who were deserting to Australia. Interest rates are a quarter on base rates of what they were back in 2007 and 2008. The Government has through its policies seen the creation of more jobs in this economy than ever before since 2008.James Shaw: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Once again my question was around rapidly rising house prices—Mr SPEAKER: No. The question was not as specific as that. The question started with "What has changed since 2007 …" and that gave the opportunity for the Prime Minister to explain."