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Story: Housing and government

Encouraging home ownership

In the mid-20th century the National Party was supportive of state housing for those who were unable to house themselves, but believed that home ownership was the aspiration of most New Zealanders. When National became the government in 1949 it enabled state-housing tenants to buy their state houses on very generous terms. The State Advances Corporation (SAC) also provided cheap mortgages for eligible applicants to buy new homes in burgeoning suburbs. Through such state schemes New Zealand's home ownership rate increased significantly. This SAC pamphlet was used to advertise the advantages of home ownership in the early 1950s.

Courtesy of Housing New Zealand

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-A-HOUSING-1951-01-recto

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Housing and government – A property-owning democracy, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/32429/encouraging-home-ownership (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 13 October 2011.