Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the latest figures for dwelling consents issued in Auckland over the past year show the progress the city is making towards addressing its long-running housing supply issues.

“More than 1600 new dwellings were consented in Auckland in April 2021—that’s a 40 per cent increase on the previous record for April set in 2018,” Mayor Goff says.

“This brings our annual total to 18,224, meaning 3000 more dwellings were consented in the 12 months to April 2021 than in the four years from 2008 to 2011 combined.

“The increased supply of housing to meet demand is a prerequisite to—but not the only requirement for—stabilisation of house prices and rents.

“April’s consents also continue the trend we’ve seen where most dwellings consented are attached dwellings. This past month, two-thirds of all dwellings consented were attached, and for the year, the figure stands at about 64 per cent.

“This shows that Auckland is becoming a more compact city, which is necessary, in the face of major population growth, to tackle problems of carbon emissions, sprawl-related traffic congestion and intrusion onto elite soils.

“While the continued record-breaking pace of dwelling consents issued in Auckland indicates progress in our efforts to alleviate the city’s housing supply issues, it also means that Auckland needs more investment in infrastructure to ensure that the required new dwellings can be delivered,” Mayor Goff says.

“I welcome the government’s announcement in March of $3.8 billion to build infrastructure and accelerate home building nationwide.

“Given that 43 per cent of all dwellings consented in New Zealand in the past year are in Auckland, I would hope that a proportionate share of this and other funding be allocated to Auckland to help ensure that key infrastructure such as water, roading, and public space is delivered so that home building can go ahead.”

Auckland Council’s Regulatory Committee chair, Councillor Linda Cooper, says, “the high levels of dwelling consents that we are seeing are showing no signs of slowing down. This is heartening given the fears of early 2020 that a COVID-19 induced economic slowdown would hamper residential construction.”

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