Housing market under scrutiny

The Centre for Housing Research has commissioned $120,000-worth of reports and its chairman, Nigel Haworth, said a fourth project - examining housing needs for the disabled - was up for tender.

DTZ Research was granted $30,000 to produce a report on housing costs and affordability in New Zealand. The report, due in June, will compare costs with similar countries such as Australia.

Business and Economic Research (Berl) got $30,000 to study the impact of financial means on tenure choices and its report is also due in June.

Motu, the economic and public policy research trust, got $60,000 to identify a set of housing research projects addressing the impact of economic, social and environmental changes on housing, and its report is due in July.

The Centre for Housing Research was launched in August and has commissioned studies on many other property issues.

Previously commissioned reports include one from the head of Massey University's department of finance, banking and property, Professor Bob Hargreaves. That will study home-ownership trends, looking at levels of ownership historically and projecting patterns during the next decade.

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