Press Release
Stephen Berry Economic & Sustainable Business Committee

Why Auckland Houses Cost More

"It doesn't take another waste of trees from the Auckland City Council to see why Auckland houses cost more than Australian ones," says Auckland Mayoral candidate Stephen Berry. His comments follow the release of a report from the Council Economic & Sustainable Business Committee showing housing in Auckland costs 85% more than in Australia.

"Council regulations, interference and busybodying are an obvious cause of increased housing costs in Auckland," Berry says. "The last thing we need is another costly council report to point this out!"

"The costs of dealing with the council were bad enough before the issues with leaky homes but now council has increased the number of regulations involved in building further increasing the cost of building. This does nothing to ensure the quality of buildings, merely increasing the responsibility of a clearly incompetent council."

Head of the Economic and Business Sustainability Committee, Richard Northey has suggested a range of measures to de3al with this problem, including:

- A capital gains tax on all property

- A ban on house sales to foreigners who spend little time in New Zealand
- Price controls on materials

- Price controls on housing in developments

Stephen Berry is opposed to all of these suggestions. "You can't fight socialism with more socialism! The current crop of councillors are seeking to fix their original batch of foolish regulations with more regulation. The real answer is to remove all regulations and leave it to the free market."

"I pledge to be a strong advocate for all those who want the council out of their lives and be left to find their own solutions to their own problems."

ENDS

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