28 January 2021
Amelia Mahoney-Marsh
[FYI request #14283 email]
Dear Ms Mahoney-Marsh
Thank you for your request to Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, dated 11 December
2020, for the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I would like to know how much funding each region has received from funds allocated
for Kiwibuild since its inception. As well as how many Kiwibuild homes in each region
were sold on the private market and what the total cost of building the homes sold on
the private market were.
Please note that KiwiBuild does not allocate funds directly to developers or to regions.
KiwiBuild funds are required to be recycled back into the programme in order to provide an
ongoing cycle of residential development.
The KiwiBuild Buying off the Plans programme works with developers to expedite
residential development and increase the pace that new homes come on to the market.
KiwiBuild provides an underwrite to enable private development to progress, ensuring that
a proportion of homes in these developments are available to KiwiBuild buyers and
affordable under a price cap set by the Government.
Crown funds are only expended if a developer is unable to sell homes to eligible KiwiBuild
buyers in an agreed timeframe or, in the case of some contracts, the Crown agrees to
purchase outright the KiwiBuild homes built in a development. In these situations, a
developer is entitled to exercise the underwrite and the Crown is contractually obliged to
purchase those homes from the developer at an agreed price. Homes purchased by the
Crown are then on-sold, with the proceeds returned to the Crown and recycled into the
KiwiBuild programme.
In response to the first part of your request relating to funding by region, the table below
shows:
the number of KiwiBuild homes the Crown has acquired by region as a result of
developers exercising their underwrite and the programme the development was
underwritten by (Underwrite, or through Outright Purchase)
how many of those homes have been on-sold by the Crown to eligible KiwiBuild
buyers
the value from those sales.
This data is as at 30 November 2020.
Crown
Crown
$ Crown
Owned
$ Crown
Region
Programme
Acquired
Acquired
Sold
Owned Sold
Northland
Outright Purchase
19
$8,065,350
19
$8,065,350
Auckland
Outright Purchase
40
$19,939,388
22
$11,195,388
Auckland
Underwrite
73
$36,391,525
33
$16,141,350
Bay of Plenty
Outright Purchase
27
$11,435,146
27
$11,435,146
Canterbury
Underwrite
4
$1,568,740
4
$1,568,740
Otago
Underwrite
3
$1,665,218
3
$1,665,218
Total
166
$79,065,367
108
$50,071,192
You ask how many KiwiBuild homes were sold on the private market, and the regional
locations of these sales. All KiwiBuild homes are sold on the private market by the
developers that built them, mostly by direct sale, or through the developers’ sales agents.
KiwiBuild homes target first home buyers or “second-chancers”, that is, those who may
have owned a home in the past, but no longer own one. All buyers must be eligible
KiwiBuild buyers. You can find more information at
https://www.kiwibuild.govt.nz/kiwibuild-
eligibility/check-your-eligibility/. The following table shows the total number of KiwiBuild homes sold, by region, as at
30 November 2020.
Region
Homes Sold
Region
by KiwiBuild
Northland
19
Auckland
971
Waikato
18
Bay of Plenty 27
Hawke's Bay
10
Taranaki
1
Wellington
60
Canterbury
11
Otago
9
Total
1126
You ask about the cost of building the homes sold on the private market.
KiwiBuild, despite its name, does not construct homes. Most of the homes for the KiwiBuild
programme are built by developers, and others are contracted by Kāinga Ora to be built
within Kāinga Ora redevelopments.
Where Kāinga Ora has contracted KiwiBuild homes to be built within its redevelopments,
the cost of building is commercially sensitive. Kāinga Ora is not party to the developers’
costs of building. I am refusing your request for this information under sections 9(2)(j) and
18(g) of the Act, as the informtion is commercially sensitive or is not held by Kāinga Ora.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Rachel Kelly
Manager Government Relations
