Bayly Andrew: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBayly Andrew: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2676. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua): It is a pleasure to be speaking on this third reading of the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill.First of all it is great to be part of a Government that actually knows what it is doing that has actually got something to do and that has actually got a plan and we are actually implementing it. We are not holding talkfests and unlike some Opposition parties we are not relying on newspapers to dictate our strategy.Owning our own home is not only a cherished Kiwi dream but a fundamental right. All we have heard about from many of the Opposition parties is their desire for the Government to be a major player—in fact they think it is the only way of dealing with it—and for the Government to build thousands of new homes. That is as creative as they can get. Luckily for us we have been a little bit more thoughtful about it because what we have done is actually thought about it from both ends of the spectrum.This bill is essentially about helping 90000 lower and middle income New Zealanders get into their first homes. In essence it will allow KiwiSaver members to withdraw their member tax credits when purchasing their first homes. This bill drives at the heart of the issue for many first-time buyers—that is how do you gather sufficient money to be able to put down an adequate deposit? It supports the HomeStart package announced in last year’s election that comprises three changes which take effect in a few days’ time.These include introducing the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant. This doubles the support for buying a new home and increases the house price limits. Secondly it enables larger KiwiSaver first-home withdrawals of all the member tax credits other than the initial $1000 kick-start provided by the Government. Thirdly it expands the eligibility for the Welcome Home Loans by aligning the house price caps with the KiwiSaver Homestart grant. In total this adds up to $55000 provided that the person has been in KiwiSaver for 5 or more years. That is an important contribution to helping to get that initial deposit that I spoke of earlier. This together with the low-interest environment that we have created as a Government means that now those disciplined Kiwis who want to work hard and save have a far greater potential to get the necessary deposit to get their first home.I now just want to return to the issue of supply which continuously comes up. I have spoken about this before but I just really want to discuss it in detail. We have 100 special housing zones already in place around the country 80 of which are in Auckland. I have got two of them in my electorate one of which Wesley is the largest in the country. It will create between 4000 and 4500 homes. Another one just down the road is going to create another 700 homes. The Wesley one is due to start earthworks later this year and the Belmont development is not far away. They are significant projects in their own right.The Opposition’s claims that not enough houses are being built are simply false. It is very important when you just—Hon Phil Goff: Read the Treasury report.ANDREW BAYLY: By way of example if you go to my electorate—to the Opposition member who just sought to interrupt me it might just be worthwhile if next time he goes out there on his weekend jaunt to see his house for him to stop at Mission Heights and look at the avalanche of new homes coming on board. There is in fact one a day in my estimate; one a day—one completed house every day and I am probably being conservative—in that vast area of my electorate. It is a fast-growing new development. We are talking about real houses every day coming on to the market.If you go over the hill and I am sure you know where Beachlands and Maraetai are there is a vast majority—again the population is going to go from 8700 to about 17500 by 2021. Diggers the loaders—everyone is in there now. The issue there is how we deal with the water the wastewater connections and the roading infrastructure. But those sections can be observed and I welcome anyone to come with me and I will show you those areas.Then Clevedon which I know that the member opposite knows exceedingly well—in fact tomorrow I am off to meet a number of people a number of developers who are just so keen to tell me about the 700 or 800 homes they are about to commence work on as soon as possible in the Clevedon area. It is a fabulous area as the member opposite knows. Again I would be very happy to show anyone around that area.Then of course closer to Pukekohe apart from the two large social housing areas I have spoken of earlier we have got again huge amounts of development going on—to be very specific Anselmi Ridge and then on Valley Road. In fact every day people stop on Valley Road to see the extent of the development and the land excavation that is going on. We have got houses coming from everywhere across my electorate and the issue as I have said on a couple of occasions is actually how the council keeps pace with the level of development that is taking place.But from another perspective even if you do not believe me the consent numbers actually tell you what is happening. For the 2014 year there were just over 24000 building consents issued country-wide. In Auckland there were 11000 consents issued.I think that someone quoted yesterday that the transformation between consent through to a house is approximately 98 percent. So if consent occurs there is a very strong prospect that it will result in a section being offered for sale and ultimately a house being built on it. These strong consent figures carried on into January this year with about 1700 being issued in January 2015. These are all really good indicators of a strong and vibrant housing market which will of course ultimately lead to houses for everyone.These are all important contributions to actually dealing with the delivery of new houses notonly in Auckland but across the country. Even the Reserve Bank in its last report to the Finance and Expenditure Committee indicated that it thought the housing problem was probably going to top off at the end of this year. In regard to Christchurch the Reserve Bank had a view that a lot of the supply had already been dealt with.The other thing that I just want to touch on is that the Labour Opposition particularly seems to be myopically focused on the Government taking over the role of the building of new houses in New Zealand. The statistics are—and I quoted these yesterday—that 25 percent of all houses in New Zealand are built by the top 20 builders. One percent historically have been built by Government but by far the vast majority have been built by one two or three-person building companies and they account for roughly 74 percent of all houses in New Zealand. That is why this Government is absolutely focused on creating the right environment where those builders feel secure have the right financial incentives and have the right economic environment to be able to go ahead and build the vast majority of houses in New Zealand.I just want to close by saying that first home ownership is still high even under the new loan-to-value ratio arrangements. According to the Reserve Bank report that was given to the Finance and Expenditure Committee although the long-term average over the last 10 years is at 19 percent even with the new loan-to-value ratios that have come in place over the last 12 months or so we are still sitting at about 17 percent. So we are still seeing a lot of first-home buyers entering the market and the package that we have set out in this taxation bill is another step in that overall package of helping Kiwi families get into new homes.