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Story: Housing and government

Sale of state houses

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This graph shows that sales of state houses tend to increase when National-led governments are in power and fall away during periods when Labour administrations govern. This reflects different philosophies towards state-housing provision between the parties. Generally speaking, Labour has promoted the retention of state-housing stock to meet demand for good-quality and affordable housing, whereas National has favoured selling state houses to encourage private homeownership. Even so, some Labour governments have sold state houses, usually to better balance the housing stock because demand had fallen in some areas.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Annual reports, State Advances Corporation; Annual reports, Housing Corporation of New Zealand (1974–2000); Annual reports, Housing New Zealand (2001–2010)

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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/graph/32430/sale-of-state-houses (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 13 October 2011.