New initiatives to help Kiwis into homeownership through KiwiBuild reset

“The housing crisis developed over decades and won’t be solved overnight. We’ve made a good start across the wider housing portfolio but KiwiBuild isn’t working so we are changing it. When policies aren’t working we are honest about that and fix them,” Megan Woods said.

The Government is announcing new initiatives to help more New Zealanders into homeownership through its KiwiBuild reset, Housing Minister Megan Woods announced today.

“The housing crisis developed over decades and won’t be solved overnight. We’ve made a good start across the wider housing portfolio but KiwiBuild isn’t working so we are changing it. When policies aren’t working we are honest about that and fix them,” Megan Woods said.

“By making improvements to our build program, we can get more New Zealanders into warm, dry, secure homes whether they be public, rental or affordable KiwiBuild homes.”

The reset includes:

New ways for people to become homeowners, such as shared-ownership schemes

Boosting supply by building more homes where evidence shows they are needed

Letting friends and family join their $10,000 deposit assistance together

Reducing to 5% the deposit required for a government-backed mortgage

Reducing the amount developers receive for triggering the government underwrite rather than selling to KiwiBuild buyers

“We will also be dropping the target of 100,000 houses for over ten years. It was overly ambitious and lead to contracts being signed in places where there was little first home buyer demand,” Megan Woods said.

“Instead of the target, we will focus on building as many homes as we can, as fast as we can in the right places. Each month we will release a dashboard of housing statistics so New Zealanders can easily measure our progress.

“Homes in Te Kauwhata, Canterbury and Wanaka that haven’t sold will be released to the open market, allowing us to reuse the government capital to get more developments underway where there is clear demand.

“We will also be making changes to that Government underwrite, reducing the amount available in future developments so developers are incentivized to sell to KiwiBuild first home buyers instead of triggering the underwrite, which may be at a lower level.

“The Urban Development Authority, Kainga Ora – Homes and Communities, will coordinate developments across New Zealand making sure that we get the mix of public housing, market-priced homes, and KiwiBuild homes. We will now target those homes to areas where there are a clearly identified demand and need. We will look for opportunities to build to rent with long term institutional investors through these developments.

Today’s reset of the building program sits alongside other actions the Government has already taken to begin to address the housing crisis:

Banning overseas speculators from the market

Stopping the sell-off state houses

reforming tenancy rules

Helping hundreds of homeless people get into a home with wrap-around services including addiction services and mental healthcare

Building record levels of state and public houses

Starting off reform of the RMA

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)