Hon Dr Nick Smith

Minister for Building and Housing

30 July 2015

Building activity moving from Christchurch to Auckland

The latest building consent data from Statistics New Zealand for the month of June and the latest quarter shows ongoing growth in residential building and a shift in new activity from Canterbury to Auckland, Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith said today.

“Residential building in Auckland is at its strongest in a decade with 8300 consents for the latest year – an increase of 21 per cent on the previous year. This is the fourth consecutive year of over 20 per cent growth and is the strongest sustained increase in Auckland house building ever,” Dr Smith says.

“The monthly figures reveal a significant shift in residential building activity from Canterbury to Auckland. There has been a 15 per cent decline in consent numbers in Canterbury, as compared to the same quarter last year and to the 19 per cent increase in Auckland. The Government expects this trend to continue over the next two years as the residential rebuild slows and the momentum of the Government’s housing initiatives in Auckland grows.

“This latest consent data for June reinforces the findings of the annual National Construction Pipeline Report released yesterday, that point to a strong, growing sector which is increasingly delivering on New Zealand’s housing needs.

“The Government will continue to progress our wide programme of work to further grow housing supply. We are freeing up more land faster through our eight Housing Accords and 118 Special Housing Areas. We have initiatives in place to constrain building materials costs, rein in development contributions, cut compliance costs and invest in improved sector productivity. Our new $435 million HomeStart support package, which came into effect 1 April, will support 90,000 people into their first home over the next five years.

“The next steps in our programme include the second phase of reforms to the Resource Management Act and advancing the initiative announced in this year’s Budget to develop housing on Crown-owned land. The Government remains committed to ensuring more New Zealanders realise the Kiwi dream of home ownership.”

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