March 23, 2023
Iwi tries leasehold to overcome high land price
Māori housing innovator Victoria Kingi is trying a new way to get her Ngati Potiki people into home ownership.
She says the iwi’s first shared equity scheme in Papamoa in 2018 proved very successful for the 10 whanau involved, with two of them already able to buy out the iwi share.
But with sections in Papamoa now costing about $400,000 on top of increasing construction costs, something else was needed.
“Through this leasehold scheme, designed and developed and negotiated with Westpac and the government and with our board, we are able to deliver housing to whanau. They don’t have to buy the land so that immediately saves them 50 percent roughly of the cost. They just have to get a mortgage approval,” Ms Kingi says.
She says the tribe will provide the land, even though that is not the most lucrative option for it.