Earlier this year, a group of experts from Housing New Zealand Corporation, the Department of Building and Housing, the Treasury, the Reserve Bank, the Ministry of Social Development, and Statistics NZ were involved in the preparation of a consultation paper that is part of the review of official housing statistics.
The aim of the review is to identify and prioritise the long-term strategy for the development of housing statistics across the Official Statistics System (OSS). The consultation paper has identified 12 draft key statistical development areas for the OSS to address.
Submissions on the paper were invited during early 2009. Nineteen written submissions were received from a range of organisations and government agencies with an interest in the housing sector.
Overall the submissions supported the 12 development areas identified. These include:
• non-demographic factors affecting housing demand (eg first home buyers versus investment buyers, and people's housing preferences)
• the supply of land (including Maori land), demolitions and unoccupied dwellings
• physical attributes of the housing stock and housing quality standards
• the need for a house price index that is quality controlled
• official measures of affordability
• people living in housing that does not meet their needs (including the homeless)
• tenure history – factors that contribute to changes in tenure status, and satisfaction with tenure status
• monitoring the effect of government regulations and interventions on housing outcomes, and wider outcomes (eg health status).
Key statistical development areas and the recommendations to address them are now in the process of being finalised and placed in order of priority. The final report will be published on the Statistics NZ website in July 2009.
The housing review is one of 13 reviews that form the framework for the Programme of Official Social Statistics (POSS), a 10-year whole-of-government programme to improve the range and quality of official social statistics.
Reviews of official statistics are an important aspect in strengthening and coordinating the development and ongoing integrity of the OSS. Statistical reviews seek to:
• develop a long-term picture of information needs, rather than react to short-term issues
• develop a coordinated plan to address issues, rather than tackle them on a piecemeal basis
• work with other agencies to agree on overarching priorities, rather than take a single agency view.
For more information contact: standardofliving@stats.govt.nz.