KEY POINTS:
Parliament's commerce select committee has decided to hold an inquiry into housing affordability.
National's housing spokesman, Phil Heatley, wrote to the committee last week asking for an inquiry.
Property prices throughout the country were demoralising for young people, and the relationship between incomes, prices and interest rates should be investigated, he said.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said an inquiry was not needed, and the Government was already doing what it could to ensure housing was affordable.
But Labour does not have a majority on the nine-member committee, and the decision to hold the inquiry was made at a meeting today.
Chairman Gerry Brownlee said terms of reference had not yet been determined, and the committee had not decided whether it would call for public submissions.
The committee has four Labour MPs, four National MPs and United Future's Gordon Copeland.
Mr Heatley said even the Labour members on the committee accepted there were issues that needed examining.
"I don't expect we'll uncover the silver bullet, but I'm confident there are areas where we can make a significant difference," he said.
Housing Minister Chris Carter said the Government had "a great deal of work underway" exploring factors that had lifted house prices in recent year, and into the best way of ensuring an enhanced supply of affordable houses.
He welcomed the committee's inquiry but urged MPs to ensure it did not become "a smokescreen for promoting National Party policies that have nothing to do with providing affordable homes to young people and everything to do with pay back to commercial interests in the property sector".
- NZPA
