The New Zealand First leader has accused the Government of not doing enough to rein in the Auckland housing market because it does not want to upset its donors.
Winston Peters Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Figures released by the Electoral Commission reveal the National Party raised almost $4 million last year - four times as much as the Labour Party.
More then $100,000 came from donors linked to property development or real estate in Auckland.
Mr Peters said National was doing nothing to stop rising house prices in the city.
"You've got massive immigration, 34,000 on top of that going to Auckland.
"Then you have offshore buying, all of which the developers love so that's why, you pay a thousand dollars to the National Party you get $100,000 back...There's no doubt about it at all.
"They're writing their policy. Otherwise they would have taken action to stop this absolute shambles which every economist now is saying is getting out of hand," Mr Peters said.
Labour Party leader Andrew Little was also critical of what he said was Government inaction.
"Well, we heard from t he deputy governor of the Reserve Bank and he is concerned about the long-term impact in terms of economic stability if we don't the Auckland housing market under control.
"This is a priority area for the Government. If they are concerned about offending their donors then that would be an outrage on its own but they've got to ignore that and act in the best interests of all New Zealanders and that means doing something about Auckland housing," Mr Little said.
But property developers were not the only donors to the National Party.
Business leaders, who would share the worries that Auckland housing prices are helping hold up interest rates and the value of the New Zealand dollar, donated more.
While National received $3,997,536 in donations last year, only $1,084,955 came from donations of $15,000 or more. Many more people gave it much smaller donations.
In contrast Labour raised just $939,411 in total from donations, less than donations made to the Green Party.
But the Internet and Conservative Parties were also big fundraisers, with most of their money coming from their founders Kim Dotcom and Colin Craig.
The numbers
Party total donations ( Donations over $15,000)
National $3,997,536 ( $1,084,955)
Labour $ 939,411 ($251,000)
Greens $ 969,384 ($451,662)
NZ First $132,156 ($37,618)
ACT $726,187 ($322,177)
Conservative $2,971,000 ($2,966,000)
Internet $3,500,000 ($3,500,000)
Internet-Mana $656,227 ( $656,227)
Maori Party $ 419,199 ($260,252)
United Future $1,960 (none)
