Auckland houses skyrocket $300k in 5 years - Twyford

The Government’s refusal to take effective steps to solve the Auckland housing crisis is highlighted in new figures showing prices in our biggest city skyrocketed by $300,000 in the past five years, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says. "Generation Rent is being further locked out of the dream of homeownership, while house prices in many regions are stagnating. "Trade Me property data released today shows the average asking price for a property in Auckland in September 2010 was $476,000 - today it is $776,000. Auckland house prices have risen three times faster than household incomes over the same period. "The data supports what other surveys have confirmed in recent days: contrary to anecdotal reports of the market slowing, the volume of sales and prices went to a new high in the last month. "While the Waikato and Bay of Plenty have seen house prices rise, prices in the rest of the country are plateauing and even declining in four out of ten regions. "National spent years denying there was a housing crisis in Auckland. Then when they couldn’t ignore the facts any longer, they took grudging half-measures. "It is time the Government admitted defeat and embarked on a massive state-backed building programme to flood the market with affordable houses and crackdown on speculators by banning non-resident foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes," Phil Twyford says.