Kia ora Harris,

Thank you for your email of 3rd April 2024, in which you submitted an Official Information Act request as follows:

In the House on Tuesday 26 March 2024 you said:

Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: We are committed to making sure that we build more houses in general in this country. That has been an absolute disaster under the previous administration. This Government takes getting houses built seriously.
(see: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.... )

According to Statistics New Zealand:

* at 30 September 2023 the estimated number of private dwellings in New Zealand was 2,063,200 https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
* at 30 September 2017 the estimated number of private dwellings in New Zealand was 1,849,000 https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
* at at 31 December 2008 the estimated number of private dwellings in New Zealand was 1,692,700 https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Based on Stats NZ figures between 31 December 2008 and 30 September 2017 an additional 156,300 private dwellings were added in New Zealand.

According the same data series in the six years between 30 September 2017 and 30 September 2023 an additional 214,200 private dwellings were added.

Under the Official Information Act, I seek a copy of the advice that led you to say in the House on 26 March 2024 that "We are committed to making sure that we build more houses in general in this country. That has been an absolute disaster under the previous administration." In particular I am interested in the advice that explains why facilitating an annualised new house building rate of nearly twice as high as that during the Key/English goverments was an "absolute disaster". If you have any advice that suggests the Stats NZ figures are wrong, this would also be useful to receive.

Your request is being considered in accordance with the Act, and you can expect a response by 2nd May 2024 (date determined by the OIA calculator).

Ngā mihi nui

Sonya Ford
Correspondence Lead Advisor | Office of Rt Hon Christopher Luxon
Prime Minister
Minister for National Security and Intelligence
Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

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