2. GEORGINA BEYER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Housing
What is the Government doing to help New Zealanders buy their first home?
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Minister for Building Issues) Link to this
Homeownership has long been part of the Kiwi dream. The Labour-led Government is committed to active support for Kiwi families to buy their first home. Our Welcome Home Loans have already helped more than 1,600 families to buy their first home. From next year, couples in the KiwiSaver scheme will be able to get up to $10,000 towards a deposit. We are currently developing a shared equity product to assist families in higher-cost housing markets so they can also take a step towards home ownership.
Madam SPEAKERHon CLAYTON COSGROVE Link to this
I have indeed seen reports. Members may have heard Mr O’Hagen of Feilding on Morning Report yesterday, who said the Welcome Home Loan helped his family to get out of the rent trap and enabled them to buy a 3-bedroomed home. He stated: “One of the great things is that we feel we are paying into something that is an asset for us… No one can sell the house out from underneath us.” I also have comments from the National housing spokesperson, Mr Phil Heatley, who said he would scrap the scheme. National would give its leader, Don Brash, a $95-a-week tax cut by destroying the homeownership dreams of lower-income Kiwi families and throwing 1,600 families out of their houses.
Sue BradfordHas the Government investigated whether a capital gains tax on property other than the family home would help to reduce speculation in housing and make first homes more affordable for many?
John KeyDoes the Minister really think $1,000 a year—the contribution the Government is putting up under its KiwiSaver scheme—will make a meaningful impact on allowing young New Zealanders to buy a home; if he really does think $1,000 a year will make a meaningful difference, has he been to Auckland recently?
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE Link to this
I know the member has stated publicly that he does not want any State houses in his electorate, for his own political purposes. I say that, along with the KiwiSaver scheme, whereby a couple will get Crown funding of a $10,000 grant, as I have said, we are also investigating a shared equity scheme. Officials are also advising Ministers on raising the 100 percent cap to reflect the current national lower-quartile mean house price. One of the reasons the lower targets are there is that house prices have increased; that is a fact.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
Can the Minister advise us whether—from constituents or others—he has found people who believe that $20 a week does make a difference, despite what John Key has just told us?
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE Link to this
I can certainly confirm that. I can also confirm that there are 350,000 Kiwi families out there today—three in four families in fact—getting on average $88 a week from this Government. That is better than the $10 a week most Kiwis would have received under the National Party’s tax cut, in which Don Brash, of course, would have had a take-home pay increase of 95 bucks a week.
Pita ParaoneTēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Would the Minister be prepared, now that the Government has replenished the stocks of State housing, to consider the reintroduction of the abolished rent-to-buy scheme to assist Housing New Zealand Corporation tenants into homeownership?
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE Link to this
I can say this Government has no plans whatsoever to sell State houses, unlike the previous National Government, which sold 13,000 State houses—two-thirds of which went to developers. [ Interruption] I also ask whether the person interjecting—Gerry Brownlee—is prepared to agree with National’s housing spokesperson, Phil Heatley, and to go and tell the 88 recipients of the Welcome Home Loans package in his electorate that National is prepared to scrap it and pull the rug out from under those people?
Gerry Brownlee