Housing Minister eases up on Reserve Bank
Housing Minister Nick Smith is now saying the Government is committed to maintaining the independence of the Reserve Bank.
Housing Minister Nick Smith is now saying the Government is committed to maintaining the independence of the Reserve Bank.
Back in July he said the Government had made it plain to the Reserve Bank that it wanted to see an improvement in home ownership.
And it wanted the bank to try and take the bubble out of the Auckland market.
But speaking on TV3’s “The Nation” Dr Smith said the Government needed to respect the independence of that Reserve Bank.
“ It just gives me the nervous nellies when I see opposition parties that want to stamp all over that independence,” he said.
“That may be good politics, but we have a huge amount of stake in terms of good financial stability and good monetary policy long term for our country.”
The Minister rejected the argument that he had failed to deliver on his July promise to improve home ownership and bring an end to the Auckland housing bubble.
“I think the way in which the government has managed this issue of housing affordability and ownership rates goes back 25 years,” he said.
“People have matured, they understand there are not instant solutions, and I think they will see from the government with all of the work that we're doing, across everything from KiwiSaver to those Welcome Home Loans, to the Housing Accord, to the building materials work that we're doing to get prices down there, the reduction in the infrastructure costs – you could not have more work being done to address this important issue of housing.”
Dr Smith also said he would be making another announcement this week on the Auckland housing accord whyich is designed to open up land for housing.
However he did not give any details.
NBR Staff
Sun, 06 Oct 2013
Sun, 06 Oct 2013
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Housing Minister eases up on Reserve Bank
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