The Auckland Council estimates that just 800 new homes built over the next three years will be classed as "affordable".
It comes as Finance Minister Bill English says Auckland might have to get "a bit ugly" to cater for the demand for new homes, but Labour says that would be a disaster.
It's not quite Nelson or Queenstown, but Auckland has its own charm. Though with current house prices 37 percent higher than their 2007 peak, Mr English says aesthetics could take a hit.
"There's no point having beautifully designed cities if 90 percent of New Zealanders can't afford to live in them. We might have to get a bit ugly."
Mr English's comments come as the Auckland Council says it's on track to complete between 7000 and 8000 new homes by 2016.
But there's a catch – the council estimates only 800 of those will be "affordable".
That will do little to assist first-home buyers, but Housing Minister Nick Smith told The Nation this morning the flow-on effects will be helpful.
"When a new house is built, and many of those houses are $700,000-$800,000, and a new person buys into that, they also free up a lower house," he says.
But it's the new developments where "ugly" will come into it.
"Smaller, comfortable, affordable product – that is the future of Auckland, and we need more of that."
So the quarter-acre dream is out and apartments are in. Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says that's the reality for first-home buyers.
"Looking at the housing choices around us here, it is the opportunity to buy an apartment or a terraced house or something that is in the more affordable category, but to buy a house nonetheless," she says.
Though Labour says that would be a disaster.
"Their idea is that poor people should live in shoebox apartments with smaller, lower ceiling sizes and narrower doors and that somehow that's the answer to the housing crisis," says Labour housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
The Government says it's aiming higher than 8,000 new homes by 2016, with a fourth lot of special housing areas due to be announced in August.
3 News
source: newshub archive
