WELLINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - New Zealand on Tuesday announced a raft of measures to counter a rampant increase in house prices, which includes new funds to accelerate housing supply and removing incentives for property market speculators.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government will speed up the pace and scale of house building with a new NZ$3.8 billion ($2.73 billion) fund. She also announced more support for first-time home buyers.
The government doubled the holding time of investment properties to get tax offsets, known as the bright-line test, to 10 years. It also removed the ability for property investors to offset their interest expenses against their rental income when calculating tax.
($1 = 1.3943 New Zealand dollars)