One of Auckland's biggest house builders, putting up places for an affordable $578,000, has found many people "banned" because their incomes are too high.
Mike O'Meeghan, who owns the G.J. Gardner franchise for the Franklin and Papakura areas, said work had begun on the first three of 24 new affordable house and land packages in the Belmont subdivision west of the town centre at Pukekohe.
Although two places in the Maxwell Rd subdivision had been sold, most had not been, he said. The places are being developed on land classified as a Special Housing Area, meaning a portion must be affordable and buyers' incomes must not be too high.
"People would usually be lining up at the door to buy them. But they can't qualify, they're banned.
"We've got 57 people we've talked to from our database but 21 couples or households can't qualify because of the income threshold. It's a big frustration.
"Why can't we get that changed? If we're short of houses, why are we putting stringent rules on people's maximum income?" he asked.