Kāinga Ora sold $80 million of state housing in five years

Kāinga Ora sold 167 state houses between 2019 and the beginning of 2024 – bringing in more than $80 million in sales.

Properties were sold across the country, with the state housing provider saying it always attempted to achieve a fair market price.

One Remuera property was sold for $2.3 million in the 2021/22 financial year – another property in the same suburb was sold for the same price a year later.

In a statement, Kāinga Ora said it owned homes in suburbs across Auckland.

“In some areas, including Remuera, this includes a small number of older homes that are tenanted and have been part of the portfolio for many decades,” said Caroline McDowall, the general manager of the agency’s commercial wing.

She said the homes were built more than 70 years ago and had been owned by the agency since the 1940s.

“Selling vacant, older homes on under-utilised, high-value land that is not suitable for redevelopment is good asset management practice and part of our housing renewal strategy.

“Revenue generated is reinvested back into the portfolio.”

The data shows Kāinga Ora sold off several homes, mainly in Auckland, for between $1.5 and $2.3 million.

However, most were sold for less than $1 million.

The state houses were sold while Labour was in Government and occurred despite the 2017 election promise it would end the sale of state houses.

Then-Housing Minister Phil Twyford appeared to make good on that promise, announcing in December that same year that the Government had: “Cancelled the sell-off of state houses, fulfilling another of its first 100-day promises.”

But he said the Government would still sell houses no longer fit for purpose, and it was the end of “large-scale” state housing sell-offs.

Although 167 properties have been sold off since 2019, Kāinga Ora said it was important to look at the wider context of the four financial years between 2019 and 2023.

“[Over that period] Kāinga Ora delivered approximately 8500 new state and supported homes,” McDowall said.

She added that the money made from the sales was put back into the portfolio to fund maintenance and housing renewal.

The state house sales data was obtained through an Official Information Act request, which detailed several reasons Kāinga Ora sells its houses.

Of the 167 sold, 21 properties were assessed to be “incorrectly recorded” – for example, a leased property that had been returned to a private owner or been demolished/redeveloped.

Several properties had been transferred from one part of Kāinga Ora to another or sold to Housing New Zealand Limited, the company name given to the development entity of Kāinga Ora.

Kāinga Ora may also sell homes to iwi through the right of first refusal process. However, McDowall confirmed that since 2019 no homes had been sold to iwi through that process for Crown-owned land.

“Four homes have been offered to iwi through this process, of which two were declined and two homes are under consideration.”