High Building Costs Message Slow to Get through

new-zealand-first-party

Thu Nov 07 2013 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

High Building Costs Message Slow to Get through

Thursday, 7 November 2013, 11:49 am
Press Release: New Zealand First Party

New Zealand First is sceptical that the Government has finally got the message about high building costs and will actually do something about it.

Building and Construction spokesperson Andrew Williams says the Government’s inertia over high building product costs while New Zealand is in a housing affordability crisis has been “inexcusable”.

“It is appalling that the Government has taken so long to address the high cost of building products.

“We have been calling for action for months on the cost of building products because this is a significant factor behind housing affordability.”

Mr Williams says the situation in Canterbury is particularly dire.

“Following the release of figures that showed that the cost of construction in Canterbury had doubled in the past year we called on the Government to break Fletcher’s expensive stranglehold on building there to avoid a continued explosion in construction costs.

“Has the Government finally got the message on high building costs? We are sceptical.

“This Government likes to talk about the virtues of markets and competition. In reality, it has been happy with high prices for building costs – a situation that allows its cronies to exploit market dominance and quasi-monopolistic conditions.

“We are still waiting for real action to bring down the excessive cost of building products,” says Mr Williams.

ENDS

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