Judith Collins must be really enjoying herself at present. Shooting fish in a barrel has nothing on the rich pickings that Twyford is offering her at present. But, as he asserted in the house on Thursday, he stands by all his answers. Mostly they seem to be a repetition of his mantra, “We are providing affordable homes to first-home buyers, and it’s working.”
The trouble is that the first-home buyers are not buying so it’s the taxpayer who is buying houses that no one wants. Quote.
For the first time, the Government has been forced to purchase KiwiBuild homes off a developer because the houses weren’t selling.
The Housing Minister insists the homes will still be snapped up by KiwiBuild buyers.
Wanaka is famous for its bustling tourism, beautiful vistas – and now possibly a thorn in the Housing Minister’s side.
“There is really significant need in Queenstown Lakes District. It has the highest housing costs in the country.”
But of the 10 homes put up for sale in October, half didn’t sell in time – and the underwrite was triggered.
For the first time in KiwiBuild’s short history, the Government had to purchase homes off the developer. Four of the homes are still unsold nearly six months after being balloted to first home buyers.
But Twyford says this is not a problem. […]
But Twyford is “pretty confident” the homes will sell to first-home buyers. Currently, all KiwiBuild homes are underwritten by the Government – taking the risk off developers, and making them more attractive for investment. End quote.
Is that like “pretty legal”? That one did not work out so well. Quote.
That includes all 211 homes contracted for Northlake.
Collins says it is a “welfare scheme for property developers”.
While the houses are unsold, the Government will stump up the costs for maintenance like lawn-mowing and the cost of marketing them. End quote.
But Phil said that they would be “snapped up”. There must be a different definition of “snapped up” where he comes from.