Asked how that might be achieved in Queenstown where there were already pressures on infrastructure — particularly housing — Mr Luxon said it was a matter of encouraging more tourists while at the same time dealing with the infrastructure issues.
"We’ve got to be able to do both. We’ve got to be able to build more houses in this country," he said.
"It’s one of the biggest problems we have. We haven’t been able to unlock sufficient land.
"We’ve really got to build more houses. And we’ve got to free up resource consent to be able to do that and give councils incentives to do that."
"Think about build-to-rent projects that exist in many countries. That is a product or an asset that hasn’t been here."
Such projects could attract investment from local and foreign investors.
He saw a "big opportunity" for the Government and local councils to work together on infrastructure.
"We are up for that but we just need to be very clear about the mechanisms by which we do that."
New Zealand was the same size as Japan and Great Britain, and had plenty of space, yet housing was more expensive, Mr Luxon said.
"It’s insane. It doesn’t make any sense."
He promised more information when National released its housing policy.
He would not be drawn on the subject of the Tarras Airport proposal which, if built, would compete with Queenstown Airport.
Previously, as chief executive of Air New Zealand, Mr Luxon supported the idea of a new airport in the region, which would be the fifth in the lower South Island able to handle international flights.
When asked about the visitor levy or "bed tax" idea promoted by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Mr Luxon said he wanted to "understand that more".
"We’ve got to build back our tourism sector first."
Mr Luxon will speak in Alexandra today.
