infonews.co.nz
INDEX
BUSINESS

Auckland Housing Consents Up, Apartments Down

Friday 22 December 2017, 5:47PM

By Beckie Wright

190 views

New data from Statistics NZ has shown an increase in housing consents in Auckland, and a decrease in apartments. Consents were issued for nearly 1000 new homes in October, which was above average for Auckland, but only 78 apartments were consented during the same period. A spokesman for Housing and Transport Minister Phil Twyford said under-building was of serious concern.

Despite the growth in housing consents, the 66% drop in apartments between October 2017 and the same time this year means there is still a need for more properties. The spokesman went on to say, “A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment analysis of the rate of house building compared to the population shows several important things… The current house-building rate is still below the pre-global financial crisis norms and a quarter below the 2004 building boom. In Auckland, it's worse - only two-thirds of the 2004 boom.”

"If the build rate under National had kept pace with the previous build rate, there would be virtually no housing shortage: an extra 43,000 houses would have been built in Auckland against the shortage of 45,000, an extra 66,000 would have been built nationwide, against the shortage of 71,000,” he added. “This also shows that lifting the build rate is not implausible. We achieved about the same build rate we need for KiwiBuild as recently as the early 2000s.”

The demand for new builds in New Zealand’s busiest and fastest growing city means there is ample opportunity for construction companies and ambitious individuals to put on their hard hats. All new builds and subdivisions require a resource consent, but expert planning teams like the ones at Thomas Consultants can help make the process more streamlined. Thomas Consultants is a multi-disciplinary group of civil engineering consultants, environmental consultants, building surveyor  and more.