What happened to Christchurch property prices? Did they flat-line?

Nope.

There was a period of slow property price growth between 2016 and 2020.

But since then, Christchurch property prices have skyrocketed.

Since January 2020, they've gone up faster than Auckland, Lower Hutt and Dunedin. They've also gone up faster than the country as a whole. 

So opening up 30 years of land could cause property prices to stall for a bit. But property prices stall in different markets all the time.

See how Gisborne property prices stalled for over 10 years before taking off.

Will National's policy stop house prices going up?

Opening up more land isn't the only thing National wants to do. You need to look at the whole policy to see its effect.

They also want to tax property investors less by:

• bringing back 'interest deductibility'
• shortening the bright line test back to 2 years

If implemented, investors will likely buy more properties. This increases demand and has the potential to push prices up.

So, on the whole, I wouldn't be too concerned about National's policy.

The extra supply has the potential to hold back price growth for a bit. But, then there's the increased demand from the tax changes.

And as we saw in Christchurch, you can have more land available and still see prices go up.

In my mind, the policy probably won't put a lid on house prices.