New Zealand human rights commission launches inquiry into housing crisis

FILE PHOTO: A view of personal items of a homeless person living on the sides of busy streets in Wellington, New Zealand, April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Praveen Menon

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand's Human Rights Commission on Monday launched an inquiry into the country's housing crisis as cooling measures by the government this year have failed to ease a red-hot property market, leaving many people homeless.

Property prices in New Zealand have soared by the most among OECD nations in the past 12 months, rising about 30%, as investors cashed in on historically low interest rates and cheap access to capital under the government's pandemic-inspired stimulus spending.