In the lead-up to last year’s September general election, I praised New Zealand Labour’s housing platform because it promised to address both supply and demand distortions via negative gearing reform, banning foreign buyers of existing homes, tighter capital gains taxes, removal of urban growth boundaries, plus bond financing for infrastructure. I also praised its plan to reduce immigration by around a third, which would help to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures, especially around Auckland.
Six months later and it appears that we are already experiencing some backsliding, with Immigration Minister, Ian Lees-Galloway, playing down immigration cuts: