Prime Minister John Key said he believed low income New Zealanders could one day buy a home, despite the price of a house going up by $3000 a week in Auckland.
This was an insult to Kiwis who had been priced out of the market by Government inaction on housing, the Green Party said.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said Mr Key was "painfully out of touch" if he thought low and middle income Aucklanders would ever be able to afford to buy a home when the price of a house was going up by what she said was $1000 a week, and the mortgage repayment on a median priced house was $830 a week.
Figures this month from the Real Estate Institute showed Auckland house prices were going up by $3000 a week.
"The National Government's ideological opposition to public investment in housing is holding back Auckland and driving up inequality which is hurting young New Zealanders and the economy," Ms Turei said.
Ms Turei said a state home building programme could house those who needed a safe, warm state home, and provide a path to ownership for those priced out of the market now.
"Bricks and mortar, not empty pie-in-the-sky hopes, are what's needed in Auckland," Mrs Turei said.