National unveils plan to fund infrastructure, get houses built

PHOTO: Judith Collins – National Party Leader

National has proposed giving councils $50,000 for every extra home they consent over the historical average, in a bid to increase supply and ease the housing crisis.

Party leader Judith Collins on Wednesday unveiled the Housing Emergency Response (Urgent Measures) Bill, which places the blame of New Zealand’s skyrocketing house prices on council planning rules.

“We can’t get enough building consents and land needs to be opened up for development,” she told The AM Show on Wednesday.

“What we’d do is bring in legislation very similar to post-Christchurch earthquakes – we got a lot of houses built really well, and we didn’t crash the market. That is to actually say to councils, every council, ‘you’re going to have to free up land or designate land for the next 30 years’… rather than just the three years the Government’s currently talking about.”

Since loan-to-value deposit restrictions were eased in 2018, the median house price has gone up 50 percent – from $520,000 in January 2018 to $780,000 in February this year.