Thursday, 29 April 2021, 12:18 pm
“Labour’s changes to housing loan schemes ignore
basic economics and will further fuel the housing crisis,”
says ACT’s Housing Spokesperson Brooke van
Velden.
“The Government’s proposals to increase
price caps and funding through the First Home Grant and
First Home Loan schemes are not only likely to be
ineffective, but official
advice says they could make the housing crisis
worse.
“The Ministry for Housing and Urban
Development specifically recommended against increasing
price caps and income caps multiple times warning that the
policy changes could increase house
prices:
‘…we do not recommend increasing the
price caps for existing properties, as this would inflate
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 11:56 am
“The official
advice the Government got on interest deductibility
changes backs up the many stories ACT is hearing from
landlords and the experts,” says ACT’s Housing
Spokesperson Brooke van Velden.
“The Ministry of
Housing and Urban Development’s advice to the Housing
Minister was that the removal of interest deductibility
could put rents up, force landlords to sell, and hurt
renters.
“Denial of interest deduction ‘would add
a cost of $4,125’ to the average landlord.
‘We
expect most landlords may consider increasing rents’, said
HUD.
“Some landlords are ‘likely to sell’ with
potentially significant consequences for
renters:
Tuesday, 13 April 2021, 10:57 am
“The
experts are in agreement: Labour’s proposed change to
interest deductibility rules is a renter’s tax,” says
ACT’s Housing Spokesperson Brooke van Velden.
“A
majority of economists, academics and property experts
believe the impacts of the Government’s housing changes
will be borne by tenants.
“More than a dozen experts
surveyed expect rents to increase due to higher tax bills
faced by residential property investors.
“Let’s be
clear: This is a renter’s tax.
“All of the stories
ACT is hearing at act.org.nz/housingstories
confirm that.
“Landlords are telling us
‘I’ve