12. Question No. 12—Housing and Urban DevelopmentSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 12—Housing and Urban Development12. SIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: What percentage of homes added by Housing New Zealand in the 2017/18 period were purchased or leased?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): I'm advised that the number of homes leased or purchased by Housing New Zealand reduced by 16 percent in 2017-18 from 67 percent down to 51 percent of the additional homes. During that period Housing New Zealand built 1033 homes purchased 305 and renewed or newly leased 805 transitional and State homes. The percentage of new builds increased from 33 percent to 49 percent in 2017-18.Simon O'Connor: Can the Minister confirm that Housing New Zealand missed its Auckland Housing Programme targets for the 2017-18 year—building fewer houses in Auckland while buying and leasing more than planned?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: What I can confirm is that Housing New Zealand substantially increased their new build numbers in 2017-18 over every build programme over the last five years—substantially—and it will almost double that in the year to come.Simon O'Connor: Can he confirm—returning to Housing New Zealand's 2017-18 report—that of the claimed 2188 additional homes 1152 were purchased or leased making 52.6 percent of all those additional houses being purchased or leased?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: What I can tell the member is that leasing has increased. I'm advised that of the 805 leases by Housing New Zealand in the 2017-18 year 795 were renewals of existing tenancies with three- and five-year terms. All of those renewals—the whole 795—were of leases that were entered into by the previous Government.Paul Eagle: What reports has he seen on Housing New Zealand's building and acquisition programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I saw claims yesterday on Breakfast TV that Housing New Zealand were building 1500 homes in 2016. I was very surprised to learn that so I did a bit of digging and it turns out that of those 1500 builds two-thirds were not built but were existing homes that the last Government leased or purchased.Paul Eagle: Why does Housing New Zealand buy existing homes?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: In the last financial year our Government nearly halved the number of existing homes Housing New Zealand buys as we ramp up their build programme. However Housing New Zealand will continue to buy some homes for a number of good reasons—for example the need to acquire more homes for development projects or to rehouse tenants while homes are being built and because Housing New Zealand was previously told by the former Government that in areas where it was planning to sell off State homes it could not build additional homes—SPEAKER: Order! Order! We've gone beyond the area of responsibility.Simon O'Connor: Does Housing New Zealand purchase homes before they enter the open market consequently removing an opportunity from taxpaying New Zealanders?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No. Housing New Zealand buys homes. It has an asset acquisition programme. It buys homes on the open market.Simon O'Connor: Is the Minister aware of what his advisers and officials said in committee yesterday—that Housing New Zealand is using real estate companies to acquire houses before they reach the open market?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Like everybody who purchases homes on the open market Housing New Zealand uses real estate agents but they do not have—as the Opposition have been saying—some kind of sweetheart deal with one particular real estate agency.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Yes they do.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No they do not.Hon Gerry Brownlee: He's not being told everything.Hon Ruth Dyson: What about yours with Fletchers?SPEAKER: Order! Both of you. Look Mr Brownlee you're not having a good day.Simon O'Connor: Is it fair to first-home buyers—who were promised 1000 KiwiBuild homes by 1 July—that when trying to buy a house they are competing with Housing New Zealand who is willing to pay above market value and has a budget of $1.3 billion?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: First Housing New Zealand does not pay above market value. It purchases on the open market. But this Government is focused on new builds—for the reasons that I have said—that's why we've cut the number of purchases by Housing New Zealand—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The Minister has answered the question. He answered it in his first sentence.Simon O'Connor: Is the Minister aware of what officials and advisers told the select committee yesterday—that Housing New Zealand is prepared to and does buy houses on the open market up to and sometimes beyond 5 percent of market value?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Housing New Zealand has said—and I back them—that they buy homes on the open market on commercial terms just like everybody else does. I want to point out to the member that of the 249 homes that Housing New Zealand bought that amounts to 0.3 percent of the more than 72000 homes that changed hands on the market last year. That is hardly likely to make a difference.Simon O'Connor: Has Housing New Zealand taken six times as many houses out of private ownership in the last 15 months than the 62 houses KiwiBuild added?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I reject the premise of the member's question. His facts are wrong.