27 April 2021
DOIA20/21030544
K Hopkins
[FYI request #14956 email]
Dear Mrs Hopkins
Thank you for your email  dated 19  March  2021  to Kāinga  Ora  –  Homes and Communities
requesting information under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act). As you were informed,
the following part of your request was transferred to Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga – Ministry of
Housing and Urban Development’s (the Ministry) to respond:
any documents relating to discussions in the past 3 years around a potential cap increase
for Auckland and the first home starter grant
Four documents have been identified as being in scope of your request:
• 0196 18-19: Increasing the Queenstown Lakes District HomeStart house price caps
• BRF18/19110079: Aligning the house price caps for HomeStart and Welcome Home
Loans with KiwiBuild
• BRF19/20060717:  Financial support options for Eastern Porirua redevelopment,
Residential Construction Response Fund, and First Home Grants
• AMI20/21070379: Advice on potential changes to the First Home Grant and Loan price
caps
All four documents are released to you with some information withheld under section 9(2)(a) of
the Act, to protect the privacy of natural persons. This information is summarised in the attached
document schedule.
It is important to note that the information contained in the documents may have been
superseded by recent Government announcements related to housing policy.
You may be interested to learn that the Ministry provided advice on the First Home Grant price
caps  to Ministers as part of the recent Housing  Acceleration Fund announcement, which
included increases to the income and house price caps for the First Home Loan and First Home
Grant. This advice will soon be publicly available on the Ministry’s website at www.hud.govt.nz/.
Some advice provided as part of the recent housing package announcement that is not being
published is also provided to you, as excerpts in annex two of this response letter.

In terms of section 9(1) of the Act, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the decision to
withhold information under section 9 of the Act is not outweighed by other considerations that
render it desirable to make the information available in the public interest.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review of my response by the Ombudsman, in
accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The relevant details can be found on the
Ombudsman’s website www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.

As part of our ongoing commitment to openness and transparency, the Ministry proactively
releases information and documents that may be of interest to the public. As such, this
response, with your personal details removed, may be published on our website.

Yours sincerely

Naomi Stephen-Smith
Acting Manager
Market and Supply Responses
2

Annex 1 – Document schedule
Date
Title
Section
of the
Act
applied
Documents for release
31 July
0196 18-19: Increasing the Queenstown Lakes District HomeStart
9(2)(a)
2018
house price caps
30
BRF18/19110079: Aligning the house price caps for HomeStart and  9(2)(a)
November  Welcome Home Loans with KiwiBuild
2018
30 June
BRF19/20060717: Financial support options for Eastern Porirua
9(2)(a)
2020
redevelopment, Residential Construction Response Fund, and First
Home Grants
31 July
AMI20/21070379: Advice on potential changes to the First Home
9(2)(a)
2020
Grant and Loan price caps
Excerpts for release
23
Response to request for additional information on First Home
N/A
February  Products
2021
2 March
Background information on the proposed housing supply and
N/A
2021
affordability package and other proposed interventions
9 March
Responses to questions related to housing supply and affordability  N/A
2021

3

Annex 2 – Excerpts

Lower Quartile
Valuation for New
Lower Quartile Price
Territorial Authorities
Properties (as at 19
for Existing
January 2021,
Properties (as at 9
in 000s)
March 2021, in 000s)

Thames Coromandel District
$802
$753
Queenstown Lakes District
$783
$828
Greater Wellington
$747
$621
Auckland
$746
$775
Gisborne District
$438
$363
Nelson City & Tasman District
$707
$512
Whakatane District
$695
$387
MacKenzie District
$689
$412
Taupō District
$666
$448
Masterton District
$661
$395
Tauranga City & Western Bay of Plenty District
$635
$621
Central Otago District
$633
$453
South Wairarapa District
$612
$518
Whangarei District
$612
$465
4

Kaipara District
$601
$396
Hamilton City & Waipa District
$584
$523
Stratford District
$584
$462
Waikato District
$577
$506
Hastings District & Napier City
$575
$473
Dunedin City
$569
$453
Matamata Piako District
$563
$459
Palmerston North City
$539
$441
Manawatu District
$525
$442
Marlborough District
$424
$424
Christchurch City, Selwyn District, Waimakariri
District
$517
$400
New Plymouth District
$514
$407
Hauraki District
$488
$417
Carterton District
$487
$434
Horowhenua District
$471
$396
Central Hawkes Bay District
$466
$354
Ashburton District
$464
$305
Far North District
$440
$293
Invercargil City
$425
$293
Waitaki District
$419
$305
Rotorua District
$409
$381
Whanganui District
$406
$312
Southland District
$378
$266
Clutha District
$375
$222
South Taranaki District
$373
$233
Rangitikei District
$350
$293
Timaru District
$342
$313
Tararua District
$319
$248
Ruapehu District
$277
$219
Gore District
N/A
$219
Buller District
N/A
$168
Chatham Islands
N/A
$217
Grey District
N/A
$166
Hurunui District
N/A
$342
Kaikoura District
N/A
$379
Kawerau District
N/A
$269
Opotiki District
N/A
$277
Otorohanga District
N/A
$375
South Waikato District
N/A
$270
Waimate District
N/A
$260
Wairoa District
N/A
$162
Waitomo District
N/A
$218
Westland District
N/A
$223

5

Document Outline