A scheme has been launched to allow home buyers to build or buy a property while deferring payment on the land.
Housing Minister Phil Heatley says full and final payment for the land can be deferred for up to 10 years under the Gateway housing assistance scheme
That will allow people on lower incomes to concentrate on designing and building, or buying, their homes, before they are faced with the additional burden of paying for the land, he says.
Mr Heatley says community housing organisations are being targeted because they will be able to develop the land and use the capital and interest repayment terms to build more affordable housing.
Thirty suitable parcels of Crown land or Housing New Zealand land have already been made available for the scheme.
