First step on inflation – limit land sales to residents and citizens
The Green Party has welcomed Labour’s proposal for a select committee inquiry into monetary policy but says that we can act right now to take some of the heat out of the housing market by limiting the sale of land to New Zealand citizens and residents.
“New Zealand land is on sale across the globe to the highest bidder, and this is driving up the price of land and housing for New Zealand citizens and residents,†says Russel Norman, Green Co-Leader and Economics Spokesperson.
“We don’t know exactly the size of the problem because the Government does not even bother to keep track of foreign land sales. However, anecdotally real estate agents report that foreign buyers are a significant proportion of the market and are adding to price pressures.
“The rapid increase in the price of land is one of the driving forces behind the Reserve Bank increasing interest rates, which in turn is pushing up the value of the New Zealand dollar and undermining our productive sector.
“By taking non-residents and non-citizens out of the market we can decrease some of the demand pressure in the housing market and hopefully stabilise the market. There is only so much land and the people with the first option on it should be those people who live here or are New Zealand citizens.
“Being able to afford to buy your own home is something that New Zealanders value because it provides them with stability and security. When you own your own home you can insulate it to improve its energy efficiency, plant a vege patch to grow some of your own food, and you can send your kids to the same school and the same GP over a long period with educational and health benefits.
“Renting is fine but people on average incomes should also have the option of owning their own home if they so wish. Affordable housing is a basic human right and any government that fails to ensure affordable housing is failing in its basic duty to its citizens.
“The Reserve Bank medicine to control the housing market is poisonous to the whole economy. We need the Government to have the courage to deal directly with the one of the driving forces in overheating the housing market – foreign buyers of New Zealand land.
“New Zealand land is on sale across the globe to the highest bidder, and this is driving up the price of land and housing for New Zealand citizens and residents,†says Russel Norman, Green Co-Leader and Economics Spokesperson.
“We don’t know exactly the size of the problem because the Government does not even bother to keep track of foreign land sales. However, anecdotally real estate agents report that foreign buyers are a significant proportion of the market and are adding to price pressures.
“The rapid increase in the price of land is one of the driving forces behind the Reserve Bank increasing interest rates, which in turn is pushing up the value of the New Zealand dollar and undermining our productive sector.
“By taking non-residents and non-citizens out of the market we can decrease some of the demand pressure in the housing market and hopefully stabilise the market. There is only so much land and the people with the first option on it should be those people who live here or are New Zealand citizens.
“Being able to afford to buy your own home is something that New Zealanders value because it provides them with stability and security. When you own your own home you can insulate it to improve its energy efficiency, plant a vege patch to grow some of your own food, and you can send your kids to the same school and the same GP over a long period with educational and health benefits.
“Renting is fine but people on average incomes should also have the option of owning their own home if they so wish. Affordable housing is a basic human right and any government that fails to ensure affordable housing is failing in its basic duty to its citizens.
“The Reserve Bank medicine to control the housing market is poisonous to the whole economy. We need the Government to have the courage to deal directly with the one of the driving forces in overheating the housing market – foreign buyers of New Zealand land.