Housing Minister Phil Twyford to reveal KiwiBuild eligibility rules tomorrow

Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford. Photo / George Novak

Housing Minister Phil Twyford says eligibility criteria for those hoping to buy KiwiBuild homes will be released on Wednesday.

Twyford would not give any details about the criteria to buy the affordable homes in advance, including whether income limits would apply, saying all would be unveiled when he speaks at a Build NZ conference tomorrow.

He confirmed it was signed off by the Cabinet on Monday, although Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters said this had not been revealed at his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday night.

Peters said that was because the first question asked was whether the Cabinet "discussed" the criteria.

He said there was no discussion of it and it was among a tranche of papers that went through automatically and had not been on the agenda.

Although Peters had also subsequently been asked if the eligibility rules had come up at all, Peters denied he was splitting hairs.

"About 140 things came through yesterday in that context, but I thought we were talking about what was new by way of Cabinet decision-making."

Last week Twyford signalled that for some developments, priority would be given to those who already lived locally to help ensure the developments did not push up land values and result in unintentional gentrification.

The release of the criteria comes after an Auckland Council report found more than half of Aucklanders would not be able to afford one of the three-bedroom houses under the KiwiBuild scheme because they did not have the income to service a mortgage at the $650,000 maximum price tag.

KiwiBuild aims to build 50,000 homes in Auckland in the next 10 years.

The caps on the costs are $650,000 for a three-bedroom house, $600,000 for a two bedroom and $500,000 for a one bedroom.

A spokeswoman for Twyford stressed the $650,000 was the maximum price for these homes and said the first homes under the programme in Papakura will be sold for $579,000.