“The Kiwibuild reset is a good idea” says Andrew King, Executive Officer of the NZ Property Investors’ Federation (NZPIF).

However, providing $400,000,000 of taxpayer money to get “up to” 4,000 people into home ownership appears to be a very expensive investment. How will the lucky 4,000 be chosen and what about all the others who aspire to home ownership?

How does this investment compare with the $2,000 grant all landlords and tenants were promised at the last election to help offset the impact of Healthy Homes Standards? This has now been scrapped and the question should be asked if this money has now been diverted to Kiwibuild.

Building a large and set number of properties over a ten year period with no regard to changes in demand was never a good strategy. The reset Kiwibuild scheme will now ensure that dwellings will be built when required and not built when not required. This makes more sense.

Combined with Labour’s plan to improve the Resource Management Act, which needs to be done much faster, the reset will enable Government and the private sector to be faster and more responsive to housing demand changes.

It appears that the Government still needs to incentivise first home buyers to consider buying Kiwibuild homes, by lowering deposit requirements and allowing home to be sold after just one year. This proves that even Governments cannot provide housing at prices that lower-income people can afford.

In addition, if other new laws like ring-fencing and extending the Bright Line Test had not been introduced, tenants’ rental costs would probably not have increased so much, making it easier for them to save a deposit for a Kiwibuild home.

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