Auckland faces ‘worrying’ rise in empty homes

Advocacy group blames lack of affordability

Auckland faces ‘worrying’ rise in empty homes

Census 2018 has highlighted that the number of empty properties in Auckland has risen by a “worrying” 18% in only five years.

The 2018 New Zealand census revealed that there were 39,393 unoccupied private dwellings in the city last year compared to only 33,360 in 2013. Suburbs on the North Shore and in South Auckland faced the largest increase in the proportion of vacant properties in those five years.

Unoccupied properties comprised holiday homes, baches, investment properties without any occupants, ordinary homes from which the residents are away, and homes that are being renovated.

James Crow, founder of advocacy group Gimme Shelter Aotearoa, blamed lack of affordability for the spike.

“Clearly there is a disconnect between the accommodation available and the ability for people to pay for it,” Crow said.

"It is a worrying trend. Certainly it would be indicative of what's being seen in other large cities around the world, like London, where large amounts of property are being land-banked so to speak.”

He added that the solution to the crisis could be raising wages so people could afford to live in the unoccupied properties, rather than sanctioning owners who left their properties empty.

Read more: Stats NZ releases 2018 Census highlights

Bindi Norwell, chief executive at Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), commented that the spike was unusual as Auckland had an increase in net migration and around 46,000 fewer properties than it needed.

“The fact that the largest increases were in Upper Harbour and Papakura, where large residential developments had gone up, suggested those projects "had a significant weighting in Auckland's overall increase in unoccupied dwellings", Norwell said.

Shamubeel Eaqub, independent economist, however, explained that not enough new homes had been built to comfortably house the city’s growing population – leading to a rise in crowded rental housing.

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