Introduction
Home ownership has become prohibitively expensive for most aspiring home owners since 2002. The international standard of affordability is that the cost should not exceed three times the median income of a household. In New Zealand, the median house price is nearly six times the median wage. Low housing stock and high prices mean that the market is not operating properly. If more New Zealanders owned their own home they could improve their living standards without a landlord’s approval. The right incentives could encourage property speculators to invest outside property, and housing would become more affordable as demand was met. Implementing the recommendations of the House Prices Unit, the Tax Working Group and the 2025 Taskforce for a capital gains tax, and using the revenue to finance incentives to invest in building new housing and investing in New Zealand companies will result in affordable house prices and a more productive economy.