PHOTO: Even though building rates are up, the country isn’t supplying houses where the need is highest, Shamubeel Eaqub says. Source: Q+A
An economist says, despite increasing rates of building, New Zealand isn’t building the correct types of houses to effectively tackle its housing crisis.
Speaking on Q+A’s panel this morning, Shamubeel Eaqub said there were two key areas that needed to change if the new Government wanted to make inroads on the issue.
The first was to stop lending money to investors. Eaqub said the Finance Minister should signal to the Reserve Bank that access to credit should be equitable.
He said it wouldn’t encroach on the Reserve Bank’s independence because the bank had a mandate to maintain financial stability, and controlling where credit went was part of that.
The second was to build more community and rental housing, because it didn’t matter that New Zealand was building quickly if there wasn’t a targeted effort to build where the need was the highest, Eaqub said.
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