Kiwibuild: Income and price caps adjusted for Government housing scheme

Housing Minister Megan Woods announced the changes this evening. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The Government has announced a series of changes to its Kiwibuild housing scheme.

Housing Minister Megan Woods announced the changes this evening, saying the adjustments would result in more affordable homes for first-home buyers.

The income cap for multiple buyers, such as couples, has been raised from $180,000 to $200,000, reflecting the higher cost of Kiwibuild homes, particularly those with three or more bedrooms.

Woods also announced tonight an income cap of $150,000 has been created for individual applicants with dependents.

The price caps for one- to three-bedroom Kiwibuild homes have been increased to reflect the current housing market. For example, the price cap for a three-bedroom Kiwibuild property in Auckland has increased from $650,000 to $860,000.

To encourage the development of more accessible homes, and larger homes, price cap exemptions will be allowed for certain properties of this nature that cater to larger and potentially intergenerational families or those with accessibility needs.

Meanwhile, for renters, $50 million from the $350m Affordable Housing Fund announced in Budget 2022 will go towards rental developments for lower-income people who cannot afford market rent but can't access public housing.

The housing project idea was first floated during Labour's 2017 election campaign.

The scheme itself was announced in early 2018 with a target to build 100,000 homes in 10 years, however seven months later Woods announced that the target was "overly ambitious" and would be dropped.

Woods said increasing KiwiBuild price caps reflected the current market. Photo / Supplied

The Government's much-maligned Kiwibuild project has only delivered 1380 completed houses so far.

At the current rate of construction, the original target would be reached by about the year 2300.

In a statement tonight, Woods said the changes announced today would continue the strong pipeline of building activity and support thousands of jobs.

"Since we came into Government, we have been hitting the housing crisis we inherited with initiatives to get new housing underway, and it's starting to work.

"We're seeing the green shoots of change with a busy construction sector and record numbers of residential building consents – a 66 per cent increase since 2017."