How to solve Auckland’s housing crisis: New report out

A target of 14,000 new Auckland houses built a year, banning foreign buyers from buying existing places and tackling the construction sector duopoly are ideas put forward to solve the city’s housing crisis.

Auckland Housing Summit organising committee chairwoman Leonie Freeman, said 130 people came up with solutions when the committee met last month. It has now issued its report.

In a recommendation that follows Australia’s foreign investment regime, the report mooted “investigating changes to foreign ownership rules so foreign investors can only buy new homes”.

In a section on housing delivery barriers, it cited “monopoly/duopoly on supply chain of materials”, along with skilled labour, difficulties retaining skilled tradespeople, insufficient building scale and lack of private/public partnerships.  Read more…

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