Report Launch: Free to Build: Restoring New Zealand's Housing Affordability

18 November, 2013
Wellington

The New Zealand Initiative is set to launch its third report on New Zealand’s housing affordability crisis. Outlining a series of policy recommendations, it aims to put ownership once again within reach of the average Kiwi family.

Hon Dr Michael Bassett and Initiative Director Dr Oliver Hartwich will explain what has gone wrong in the New Zealand housing market, why rising house prices are not a natural law, and how we could learn from international experiences to make housing affordable once again.

New Zealand needs to tackle the obstacles to new home construction. These include artificial constraints on land supply, the burden of infrastructure costs, and the monopoly control of the building approvals process.

If we care about housing affordability, we need new ideas to build the houses this country needs. Our report will deliver them.


About the speakers
 
Hon Dr Michael Bassett is the author of 12 books, a history professor and retired politician, having twice been elected to government. During his tenure in Parliament, he oversaw the ministerial portfolios for health, local government, internal affairs, civil defence as well as arts and culture. Michael was educated in Auckland, New Zealand, and at Duke University where he took a PhD in modern American history.
 
Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.

 


Date: Monday, 18 November 2013
Time: 5.45 PM - 8.00 PM
Location: The New Zealand Initiative, Level 12, Bayleys Building, 36 Brandon St, Wellington


 

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