The Acting Prime Minister has set an extraordinary goal to put buying a home within reach for Kiwis on average or low wages.
It would involve either a huge decrease in house prices, or a massive increase in wages.
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Winston Peters has a dream: the Kiwi dream.
"We look forward to the day, one time in the future, when a young couple can prospect no higher than five times their annual income," he said at Monday's post-Cabinet press conference.
But that was yesterday, and the acting Prime Minister's ambition is growing exponentially.
On Tuesday he confirmed the "long-term target" is that a solo home buyer earning the living wage should be able to get a home worth five times their annual income.
The living wage is the minimum income needed to meet basic needs. New Zealand's is currently set at just over $20 an hour, which works out at $42,744 a year.
To reach Peters' target, the average New Zealand house price would have to be $213,720. The problem is that it's currently $677,966, so it would need to fall by 68 percent.
Either that, or the annual wage would have to go up to $135,595 - that's $65 an hour.
It's even more stark when you apply Peters' plans to Auckland, where the average house price is more than a million dollars - $1,054,729, to be exact.
On Planet Peters, Auckland house prices would need to fall by 80 percent ($213,720), or the living wage go up to $210,945 a year - $101 an hour.
It seems extraordinary, but the Government doesn't seem to think that's outside the realm of possibility.
"Some time in the distant future that might be a fact, but not now," Mr Peters said of the possibility of a living wage of $100 an hour.
"It'll take a while, we can't do it overnight."
Housing Minister Phil Twyford called that number a "real stretch target".
This government has called itself "aspirational" from the beginning, but this policy - announced on the hoof - could be heading toward the fantastical.
Newshub.
