Mayor Welcomes 68% Jump in Apartment Consents

The building consent figures for 2015 have been released by Statistics New Zealand and they have been warmly welcomed by Auckland Mayor Len Brown.

The number of new dwellings consented in Auckland during the year climbed 21 percent to 9,251.

That’s more than double the national percentage increase of 9.8 percent which took the number of dwellings consented across the country in 2015 to 27,132 – the highest number in 11 years.

Breaking the Auckland numbers into categories:
•1,919 apartments were consented (up 68 percent)
•1,399 townhouses, flats and units (up 43 percent)
•5,185 houses (up 10 percent)

The figures come in the same week the Prime Minister announced the government will provide certainty over funding of the City Rail Link (CRL).

Len Brown says: “The increase in the number of apartments consented proves what Aucklanders already know. People want affordable choices in the types of housing available.

“More and more Aucklanders want to live close transport links, work and amenities. That’s why apartments and town houses are so appealing and why the CRL is so important for Auckland’s future.

“It also reinforces the need to agreement this year on the Unitary Plan, the single set of planning rules to guide Auckland’s growth over the coming decades, which has affordable housing and integrated public transport at its core.

“It’s those two essential issues that Aucklanders have been telling me for the past five years they want us to provide.”

Len Brown shows the 21 percent increase in dwellings consented last year also shows the Housing Accord with the government is starting to pay dividends.

ENDS

© Scoop Media