Govt launches new online housing market dashboard

Govt launches new online housing market dashboard
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) today released the Urban Development Capacity Dashboard – which it describes as a “one-stop, open-source tool of housing market indicators”. 

The dashboard will include indicators such as prices and rents, the number building consents granted relative to the growth in population; and the Housing Affordability Measure (HAM).

Manager of Construction and Housing Policy, Di Anorpong says the dashboard will be a useful tool for councils and help them monitor their progression as part of a larger work programme that MBIE has been working on with the Ministry for the Environment to help the country’s high- and medium-growth councils deliver better urban planning.

“From time to time Governments make National Policy Statements on issues that will help to shape where we are going as a nation,” says Anorpong. 

“The National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity directs councils to allow enough development opportunities in their plans and infrastructure to meet demand for housing and business space. Better evidence and monitoring will help inform this.

“The dashboard complements written guidance and a development feasibility model, which were publicly released in June. For council planners, being able to feed in up-to-date land prices and development costs across a council area gives a more realistic picture of whether a property development is likely to go ahead or not. 

However, she says the dashboard is just a starting point for analysis. The new tool along with other aids will enable council planners to merge the data with their own information and be alert to emerging trends earlier. 

“We are very proud to deliver another open-data source to New Zealanders. Councils have been trialling it and now the public is also welcome to use it to see what is happening to housing market indicators across New Zealand,” says Anorpong.