Headline: KiwiSaver changes will punish first home buyers twice
National wants first home buyers to pay for its incompetent handling of the housing crisis by cracking open more of their retirement savings, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford and Finance spokesperson David Parker say.
Housing Minister Nick Smith confirmed today the Government is looking at changing the rules on using Kiwisaver for a first home deposit as a way of compensating first home buyers for the Reserve Bank’s proposed limits on home mortgage lending.
“It’s a joke,” said Phil Twyford.
“The numbers don’t add up. National’s plan to increase the deposit from 10 per cent to 20 per cent will add $60,000 to a deposit on an average Auckland home. But there is no way several years of Kiwisaver contributions on the average wage would come anywhere near compensating for that.
“Five years of KiwiSaver contributions at 3% on a salary of $60,000 would only generate $9000.
“First home buyers already struggling in an overheated property market, are being hit at every turn. They face hefty minimum deposits, forcing them to crack open their retirement savings or turn to loan sharks,” Phil Twyford said.
“There is no doubt that booming house prices are a threat to first home buyers, but National’s refusal to tackle the fundamentals of the housing problem has forced the Reserve Bank to place extra weight on lending limits with first home buyers as collateral damage,” said David Parker.
“National has ignored calls from the IMF, OECD and Labour to introduce a capital gains tax to deal with speculators. It has also refused to deal with housing supply, something Labour will do with KiwiBuild.
“John Key doesn’t have a plan for home buyers and now his inept mismanagement has forced the Reserve Bank into a corner,” David Parker said.
Phil Twyford said thousands of first home buyers wouldn’t be able to scrape together a 20 per cent deposit with house prices increasing far too quickly.
“And they can blame John Key for that. Labour wants an interim exemption for first home buyers from LVRs until speculators are dealt with and supply issues fixed. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen under National,” he said.
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