21 April 2021
Geoff Tonkin
[FYI request #15011 email]
Dear Mr Tonkin
Thank you for your request of 28 March 2021 via fyi-requests to Kāinga Ora – Homes and
Communities requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act):
I would like to know how many houses Kainga Ora Have bought on the open market in
the last 5 years
Kāinga Ora secures additional housing stock through:
Redevelopments, where new homes are built on Kāinga Ora land
New builds, where Kāinga Ora buys new homes from a builder or developer
Buy-ins, where existing homes are bought, usually on the open market
Homes leased from private owners.
Most buy-ins are bought on the open market (although some buy-ins are direct purchases of
homes where Kāinga Ora leased the home and the lease is ending, or for strategic reasons,
such as allowing development of contiguous sections). Houses may also be bought to help keep
people in homes where redevelopment work is underway.
Few new builds are bought on the open market (although some near-completed or completed
developments are bought on the open market).
However, whether homes are acquired as an open market purchase or not is not centrally
recorded or reported. This would require accessing numerous electronic records and
spreadsheets and/or manually accessing physical records. This is not feasible for over 3,700
purchases over five years. Therefore, I am refusing your request under section 18(f) as the
information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
Kāinga Ora does record the number of buy-ins (usually open market) and this information by
year and use of the home is provided as Attachment 1. It is particularly worth noting that in the
calendar year of 2020 where Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) figures show around
85,000 residential houses were sold across the country, Kāinga Ora bought 385 of these or
0.450 per cent.
Kāinga Ora prefers to deliver new homes through redevelopment, reducing old and dated
housing and providing new warm and dry homes. The priority of Kāinga Ora is to house people in
need, and buying new builds or buy-ins provides additional homes where need cannot be met
through redevelopment. From 1 July 2015 to 31 March 2021, 4,771 new state homes have been
delivered through redevelopment, including 1,125 in the nine months to 31 March 2021 alone.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of this decision by the Ombudsman.
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
Attachment 1 – Homes bought by Kāinga Ora: Buy-ins of homes
Financial year (July to
Community
Emergency/Transitiona
State
Total
June)
Group Housing
l Housing
Housing
2015/16
15
48
63
2016/17
11
235
231
477
2017/18
17
56
248
321
2018/19
13
21
401
435
2019/20
28
102
326
456
2020/21 to 31 March
5
59
244
308
2021