Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): The Government's March 2021 housing package included a range of demand and supply side measures to increase the supply of housing. This was to address a housing crisis that was decades in the making. On the supply side, we simply weren't building enough houses—which has been a major driver of increasing rents. According to Stats New Zealand, median rent increased 4.7 percent between March 2021 and December 2021. And the Housing Register has increased by 1,838 applications between March 2021 and December 2021. I do, however, note for the member that there is a wide regional variation in the rent increases we have seen. For example, in Auckland, where we have seen a strong increase in supply, rents were limited to a 2.4 percent increase. This shows that where we increase supply, there will be more moderate rent increases. We know that this is a housing crisis that cannot be solved overnight, but we are continuing to see some of the initial green shoots of positive change from our Government's housing policies. But we know there is more work to do and we'll continue taking action to get more houses built. 