Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz

More and more people are choosing to move to Tauranga and as the city's population grows it is important people have the opportunities to own their own home.

We know Tauranga is a great place to live, work and raise a family, which is why our population is growing and our local economy is booming.

As more people move here, the housing market has changed, with the median house price increasing, which is why the Government has made important changes to its KiwiSaver HomeStart scheme as part of its comprehensive plan to address housing.

We want to give all New Zealanders a helping hand to be able to attain the dream to owning their own home, giving families greater security and building stronger communities.

That's why we launched our KiwiSaver HomeStart package in April 2015. In the scheme's first year 12,000 people throughout the country were helped into their first home – 449 of those buyers were in Tauranga, and received grants worth $2,397,000.

This week we increased the income and house price caps of the scheme to ensure it meets its objectives of helping New Zealanders buy their first home. The scheme is about helping first-home buyers pull together a deposit with a grant of up to $10,000 for an existing house and $20,000 for a new home.

The income caps have increased from $80,000 to $85,000 for a single person and from $120,000 to $130,000 for a couple. The house price caps in Tauranga have increased from $450,000 to $500,000 for an existing house and from $500,000 to $550,000 for a new build.

This reflects the $50,000 increase in the national median house price since the scheme began. We're deliberately increasing the cap for new homes by an additional $50,000 to help drive growth in new residential construction.

This is great for Tauranga's construction industry, which is set to go from strength to strength. Last week it was revealed the number of residential building consents issued in Tauranga in June this year was 35 per cent higher than the same month last year and 107 per cent higher than June 2014.

This reflects the current demand for new houses in our city. We're actively supporting the building industry to train more skilled workers to meet the demand for new housing and construction, with more funding for apprentices and trades training.

This will help young people into employment and a lifelong career and also help ease the pressure of finding workers in those high-demand industries.