KiwiSaver HomeStart subsidies doubled in 3 months

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith. Photo / Supplied

The number of first home-buyers getting housing subsidies worth up to $20,000 has doubled in the last three months.

Housing New Zealand's latest update on the HomeStart scheme showed 4261 applications were approved between July and September, compared to 2011 in the previous quarter. Around 10 per cent of the grants went to first home-buyers in Auckland.

The HomeStart scheme was expanded in April to give singles or couples on modest incomes grants of between $3000 and $20,000, depending on how long they had contributed to KiwiSaver and whether the house was a new build.

In the six months since the policy was expanded, the number of approved grants has nearly doubled to 6300.

Housing Minister Nick Smith said the newest figures showed that more people than ever were being helped into a first home. He said the generous subsidies were "making home ownership a reality for Kiwis for whom owning their own home may otherwise be out of reach".

But Labour's housing spokesman Phil Twyford said even the largest subsidies were easily eclipsed by the rate of house price rises in Auckland.

"The average Auckland house price went up by $21,500 last month, according to QV's latest numbers," he said.

"There is no way that first home-buyers can keep up with that kind of skyrocketing inflation."

The Government also confirmed nine new fast-tracked housing areas in Auckland today.

The new sites, known as Special Housing Areas, would be able to fit 1100 new homes.

That took the total number of SHAs to 106, which had capacity for 48,000 homes.

However, construction of homes in these areas has been slow. The Herald revealed earlier this month that officials could only account 102 completed houses in the SHAs over the last two years - a figure disputed by Dr Smith.

Mr Twyford said record migration was putting further pressure on housing supply, yet the Government was refusing to introduce any constraints.

Statistics New Zealand figures released today showed a record annual net gain of 62,500 people.

Prime Minister John Key ruled out any new controls on immigration this afternoon.

He said the immigration figures were a cause for celebration because they showed a net gain in people coming from Australia for the first time in 24 years.

"Rather than worrying about it too much, we should respond to it. Clearly we need to build more homes," he said.

"But [we should] also celebrate the fact that people want to come and live in New Zealand."

He said a large proportion of the arrivals could not be controlled, such as New Zealanders returning home or Australians settling here. Many more came to New Zealand in skilled and investor categories, and helped build the economy.

The Labour Party wants restrictions on student visa numbers. Foreign students were allowed to work 20 hours a week, and Labour said this was contributing to the rising unemployment rate.

Mr Key said the students were usually in low-skilled work, and contributed $3 billion to the economy.