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Brooke van Velden
ACT Deputy Leader and Housing spokesperson
ACT has today announced it would remove barriers to finance build-to-rent schemes.
Developing new apartments is hard. The Overseas Investment Office makes it harder. New Zealand is among the hardest countries in the world to send money to.
We are amidst a housing crisis and we have a Government department set up to stop people investing in housing if they’re foreign. Are their dollars really that different when it comes to pouring the floor?
ACT will remove barriers to financing build-to-rent accommodation by providing the same exemptions investors in retirement villages and students hostels receive under the Overseas Investment Act.
The beauty of exempting build-to-rent from overseas investment restrictions is that it increases the rental stock by funding more stock but does not allow overseas investors to bid up the price of existing homes.
The Government should be easing the way for builders of high-quality housing, not getting in the way. Build-to-rent provides stable opportunities for renters all around New Zealand.
Currently, the Government’s restrictive overseas investment regulations and punitive taxes on landlords have shut down investment in build-to-rent developments. Labour just doesn’t understand the consequences of its actions and this creates real problems for renters across New Zealand.
ACT’s plan would cut through regulations by providing an explicit carve out for build-to-rent in the Overseas Investment Act. We would also abolish any changes to interest deductibility tax rules.
We want to super charge building and development, not suffocate it under regulations, compliance, and tax.
We should aspire for New Zealand to be a place where people want, and are able, to send their money, to provide for more development opportunities and choice of housing.
While Australia, the United Kingdom and United States are all investing more and more into developments like build-to-rent, New Zealand is shutting down opportunities for renters left, right and centre.
ACT’s plan is aspirational and would deliver more choices and opportunities for New Zealand renters so we can live our best and most fulfilling lives.
More details can be found here.
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