Labour’s Kieran McAnulty has described Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s public desire for lower house prices as “pretty brave”, but hesitates to share the sentiment, challenging the minister to back his words with action.
Instead, Labour’s housing spokesperson told Q+A that reducing the disparity between wage and house price growth “is the right way to go” when it comes to affordability.
In June, Bishop said he wanted to see average house prices fall, even if it caused existing homeowners to feel “a little bit worried”. The Housing Minister said part of the way to do that was to “flood” the property market with more homes by liberalising planning rules.
When asked if he would go as far as Bishop and call for prices to fall, McAnulty said the National MP’s comment was “pretty brave because no one else has said it”.
“Ultimately, house prices need to be affordable, and there are two ways to do that — stabilise house prices and increase wages.
The opposition party’s local government and housing spokesperson joins Q+A. (Source: 1News)
“If you look at what the Government’s done, it’s all well and good for what the minister’s said, but what have they done?
“By bringing back interest deductibility, that is disincentivising new builds… it’s incentivising competition from speculators on existing homes — the exact situation that we inherited that was causing house prices to become unaffordable for so many workers,” McAnulty opined.
Bishop said in May reinstating interest deductibility for landlords “will help increase the supply of rental properties by giving landlords the confidence to enter or re-enter the private rental market”.
When asked again if he wanted house prices to fall, McAnulty replied: “I don’t necessarily think they need to fall” because it was relative to income levels.
While she was prime minister, Jacinda Ardern would only ever say she wanted “sustained moderation” of house prices, even when asked directly if she wanted it to drop.
As for Bishop’s plans to increase housing supply by changing how councils can set certain zoning rules, McAnulty said local government would be limited in what they could do unless they were better funded.
“If the councils don’t have money, they won’t be able to put the infrastructure in, and no houses can be built on land that doesn’t have pipes and roads.”
He said he encouraged Bishop to work with Labour to develop a housing and infrastructure plan that can endure changes of government.
McAnulty said he would be willing to put aside National’s u-turn on a bipartisan agreement to encourage more townhouse zoning in big cities.
“He [Bishop] said he’s up for that. I hope he’s serious and I hope his colleagues take his lead,” McAnulty said.
“In local government and housing and infrastructure, they just need certainty — they just need confidence that things aren’t going to come in three-year cycles.
“Obviously, we are going to have some fundamental disagreements. You can see that playing out in housing and you can certainly see it playing out in local government.
“But in terms of infrastructure, you know, we’ve got to work together.”
Bishop was asked directly whether he wanted house prices to fall at a media conference in June. He responded: “Yes, housing is too expensive in New Zealand.”
He added: “The flip side of house prices falling for people who own homes is that they become more affordable for people who don’t own homes.
“There is a whole generation of young New Zealanders who have been locked out of the housing market because average house prices are too high.”
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
