PHOTO: Jacinda Ardern. FILE
🧱 KiwiBuild: A Pipe Dream That Never Took Off
Jacinda Ardern’s legacy in housing policy is already being rewritten in her new book — but here’s what it won’t tell you.
The Labour Government’s flagship KiwiBuild programme, intended to deliver 100,000 affordable homes in a decade, ended up delivering just over 1% of that figure. Only 1,365 homes were completed before the target was scrapped in 2019 — an embarrassing backdown on a bold promise. 🏚️
➡️ The failure left would-be first-home buyers disillusioned and shut out of the market as prices surged.
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💸 Tax Changes That Backfired on Renters
In a bid to cool the market, Ardern’s government removed interest deductibility for landlords and extended the bright-line test — changes that may have sounded good politically, but hurt renters the most.
Landlords passed costs down the line, spiking rents and reducing private rental stock. Meanwhile, housing affordability didn’t improve. 📈
➡️ These reforms chased investors out of the market without solving supply constraints.
PHOTO: PHARMACY TODAY
🚧 A Broken Pipeline of New Housing
The government claimed they were building more homes — but building consents alone don’t get houses finished. Infrastructure bottlenecks, zoning issues, and red tape blocked real progress.
Add record migration into the mix, and the equation becomes impossible: massive demand, flatlining supply, skyrocketing prices. 📊
➡️ House prices rose more than 50% during Ardern’s term — locking out an entire generation.
📉 Now We Pay the Price
Following this overheated growth, the market is correcting hard. Some forecasts suggest a 28% drop in prices from the peak. Homeownership rates are the lowest since 1951.
➡️ New Zealand’s housing crash was avoidable — if the market had been managed instead of politically manipulated.
👩💼 The Book Leaves This Out
Jacinda Ardern’s new book paints a picture of empathy, leadership, and kindness. But it glosses over a critical fact: under her watch, the New Zealand property market was distorted beyond recognition.
She may have exited politics — but Kiwi families are still living with the consequences.
📚 Final Thought: Real Estate Doesn’t Lie
Leadership isn’t just about speeches and sentiment. It’s about results. And in housing, the numbers don’t lie — they scream.
Let’s not rewrite history while renters struggle and first-home buyers remain priced out.