Now Kiwibuild buying up homes already on the open market

Stuff reports:

KiwiBuild homes for sale in Huapai, West Auckland, had previously been listed – and did not sell – on the open market.
Construction firm Mike Greer has partnered with KiwiBuild to provide more than 100 homes for the scheme in West Auckland and Christchurch.
But the Huapai development, where six two-bedroom properties are currently listed for sale through KiwiBuild for $600,000 each, is a 12-unit development that was initially offered pre-construction entirely to private buyers.

So what does this mean?

Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said whether bringing properties that had not otherwise sold into the KiwiSaver scheme rendered it redundant depended on its aims.
“If the aim is to increase the supply of housing because we’re not building fast enough and that’s contributing to the affordability programme, then Phil Twyford’s modus operandi to date of walking down the street, finding a house that’s already being built, and slapping a KiwiBuild sticker on is patently stupid and nothing more than window dressing,” he said.

So patently stupid and window dressing.

“However, if the aim of the programme is to effectively provide a taxpayer subsidy to help a select and lucky few people into their first home, then selling at a discounted rate to first-home buyers fits the objective.

So at best Kiwibuild helps a few well off people get a home a bit cheaper.