Housing decision lauded

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 12

Housing decision lauded

PA Nelson The Housing Corporation’s decision to raise money publicly should help stabilise the housing market, according to the president of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, Mr Trevor Johnston. Mr Johnston said in Nelson that the corporation’s public stock issues should mean a steady supply of money rather than “the on-again-off-again lending poli-.

cies of the last few years.” He said that the corporation’s decision in November to cease lending on existing homes had “severely disadvantaged low income earners.” “A large group of low income earners without home ownership accounts or savings accounts have nowhere else to turn,” he said. They were paying high rentals and had no hope of saving for a house.

As a result of the corporation’s decision in some areas of south Auckland houses were unsaleable and their prices had dropped, he said. The idea of a low-cost new home had gone “out the window,” he said. The cost of a basic three-bedroomed home worked out at $450 per square metre. “Even in provincial centres the average new home costs between $50,000 and $60,000,” he said.