Mayor says Unitary Plan is enabling higher levels of home building
A record 10,637 dwellings were completed under Auckland’s Unitary Plan in the 12 months to December 2018.
Of the new dwellings that were consented in December 2018, 45% were houses, 27% were apartments and 28% were townhouses, flats, units, retirement units or other types of attached dwellings.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said that the latest housing figures are very positive. “The figures show that last year we completed the highest ever level of home construction as measured by CCCs (Code of Compliance Certificates), issued record levels of building consents and established a new record for the proportion of new dwellings within existing urban areas,” said Goff.
“It shows the Unitary Plan is delivering on its goal of creating a more compact city and enabling higher levels of home building. By addressing these issues, we can start to make real progress on reducing housing shortages and increasing housing affordability.”
Linda Cooper, chair of Auckland Council’s regulatory committee, said that the increase in new dwelling numbers is supported by gradually reduced Code of Compliance timeframes. “Of the 869 Code of Compliance Certificates issues in December 2018, 94% were issued to dwelling units that had building consents granted within the past two years,” said Cooper.
“The Unitary Plan recognises that housing and transport need to be planned in unison,” said Chris Darby, chair of Auckland Council’s planning committee. “Aucklanders are demonstrating they want to live close to fast and frequent public transport options, to avoid the cost of the eternal motoring mortgage. More than a third – 38.4% – of new dwellings consented are within 1500 meters of a rapid transport station. That’s an increase of more than 8% from the year before.”
