Shared equity schemes among options to lift home ownership

Chris Carter

The Government is investigating options to help New Zealanders into home ownership, including greater private sector involvement.

Housing Minister Chris Carter says that as well as wanting changes to the Government's Welcome Home loan scheme, he is interested in shared equity programmes involving the private sector.

He is monitoring the outcome of a shared equity taskforce in Britain which is looking at proposals to involve more private sector providers in schemes.

"I'm really excited about what they're doing and we're going to be following that report closely."

The Government has already signalled that it plans to announce some form of shared equity scheme in next year's Budget.

Shared equity involving the Government would typically see people assisted into their first home, and then when they sell it they hopefully make a capital gain and pay back what they were loaned.

Mr Carter says he is aware that the success of such a scheme rests on property values continuing to rise.

"But that does seem likely in our big metros [metropolitan areas], particularly in Auckland."

Declining home ownership levels hit the headlines this week when a survey by ACNielsen for Wizard Home Loans indicated a sharper-than-expected fall.

The survey showed that in the year to March, the number of people who owned their own homes fell 12 per cent throughout New Zealand and 26 per cent in Auckland.

Economists have questioned the accuracy of the data, and Prime Minister Helen Clark and Mr Carter both yesterday also appeared to query the results.

But while warning of reading too much into one survey, they agreed that the overall trend of home ownership was in decline.

Mr Carter is looking to take proposals to the Cabinet in around two weeks to adjust the settings of the Welcome Home loan scheme in an effort to get more people to take it up.

The scheme is aimed at 58,000 families but so far it has been used by only 1774.

The scheme, run through Housing New Zealand, offers loans to people who can afford mortgage repayments but have little or no deposit. At the moment a person with no deposit can borrow up to $150,000.

"That can't buy you anything," Mr Carter said, " ... certainly not in Wellington or Auckland."