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Morning radio host Susie Ferguson told a spokeswoman for a group of real estate investors that her claim that early home buyers were contributing to the housing crisis by buying rentals was being labeled “ridiculous.”
She also pressured New Zealand Property Investor Federation executive director Sharon Cullwick to reveal how many rental properties she owned, in a terribly awkward over-the-air exchange.
Cullwick had told RNZ that when “a first home buyer purchases a property that was a rental property, then they will need another home to house the additional people living in that rental home.”
The comment faced backlash and has been questioned by tenants. The economist Shamubeel Eaqub called it “quite ridiculous and deaf. The leader of the national party Judith Collins considered it, “a great stretch … the real estate investors” [Federation] possibly it is exaggerating a little ”.
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Infometrics Senior Economist Brad Olsen was quoted by Morning report host Ferguson responding that Cullick’s opinion was “the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard.”
RNZ host Ferguson noted that most of the time a rental property will be available for rent when someone buys and moves into their first home.
Cullwick said census data showed that, on average, rental properties have an additional person living there compared to owner-occupiers.
He admitted that both real estate investors and first-time home buyers were impacting the market.
But she was unwilling to share how much investment property she herself owned, as it was “personal information,” even when repeatedly pressed.
Cullwick added that she and most real estate investors are not buying right now because the market was “too hot.”
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The statements of the executive director of the NZ Property Investors’ Federation, Sharon Cullwick, have been considered illogical.
He later clarified to RNZ that while he did not believe early homebuyers were making the crisis worse, he was not resigning himself to the substance of their claim.
“I’m behind what I’m saying, but I think there are other things there, like the lack of supply is the main thing that is causing the housing crisis.
“[First home buyers are] market pressure, I wouldn’t say it’s one of the highest. “
Data on housing analyzed by ASB Bank shows that loans to investors and first-time buyers are hand in hand.
