2014 set to be ‘bumper’ year for Auckland home building

Mayor Len Brown says 2014 will be a ‘bumper’ year for building consents in Auckland, with approvals for around 7000 new homes expected in the 2013/14 year, twice the total for 2011/12.

Speaking at an event to mark the start of construction of Brickworks, Auckland’s latest apartment development, at Hobsonville Point this morning, Len Brown said:

“It’s clear that we are entering a growth phase for Auckland home building. Over the next few years Aucklanders will see a lot more building activity across the region, with a good mix of apartments, terraced houses and standalone houses.

“This boost in residential construction has been helped by strong economic growth, greater certainty for developers and improvements to the council’s consenting processes.

“I have been really impressed by the work of our consenting teams. Although volumes are much higher than previous years, the building and resource consent teams have continued to perform at 95 per cent at least, of consents processed within statutory timeframes.”

Highlights include:
· More than 6300 building consents were granted last year in Auckland, up 38 per cent on the previous year and double the year before.
· Resource consents continue to increase – up from 12,000 in 2011/2012, 13,000 in 2012/2013 and at the current growth, expected to increase to 14,000+ in 2013/2014.
· The resource consents issued will result in a significant increase in new dwellings over the next years with more than 20,000 new lots approved as part of resource consents issued in the last 6 months.
· Apartments are becoming a larger proportion of new homes - in December alone in Auckland consents were granted for 397 new apartments. (Over the last six months, consents for 1918 new apartments were granted.)

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