New Zealands youngest MP is a property owner but you would not know it from looking at the official register of MPs financial interests.
The 2021 register of pecuniary interests was published on Tuesday. It showed that the bulk of MPs are property investors, and that only a small number do not own a home at all.
Only five Labour MPs, three Green MPs and one ACT MP declare no interest in any real estate.
One of them was 26-year-old Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, who cited only KiwiSaver and managed fund investments.
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But Swarbrick now also owns an apartment on Karangahape Rd, central Auckland, with her partner.
The purchase of the property was completed in early February, days after the period covered by the pecuniary interest.
A Green Party spokesperson said there was nothing remiss in the apartment not being included.
The owner of a Lower Hutt villa wants to save his old home from demolition after selling the property to a developer. He is offering it for free to whoever can take it away.
Every member of parliament must make an annual return each year as at 31 January. Chlöe Swarbrick did not own property at this date — any changes to Chlöes pecuniary interests thereafter will be declared in the next register of pecuniary interests.
Co-leader Marama Davidson and MP Ricardo Menendez March were the other Green Party politicians who said they did not own real estate.
Commentators said the propensity of MPs to invest in properties reflected their age, career stage and the fact that property investment was a popular vehicle for New Zealanders.
Once youre on the property ladder theres the ability to use your equity to move further up the ladder, and so a higher starting income coupled with MPs generally being in a middle to later stage of their careers, helps make the option of housing investment more possible, said Infometrics economist Brad Olsen.
Act leader David Seymour also does not own a property he lives in but lists family trusts, of which he is a beneficiary, in the register.