Surge in number of new homes being completed in Auckland

Property

The number of new homes being built in Auckland is at its highest level since records began in 2013

15th May 21, 8:04am by Greg Ninness

The number of new homes being completed in the Auckland region continues to set new records.

According to the Auckland Council, it issued 1412 Code Compliance Certificates (CCCs) for new residential dwellings in March, up 24% compared to March last year and up a whopping 108% compared to March 2019.

Code Compliance Certificates are issued when a building is completed and ready for occupation, so are a better indication of new housing supply than building consents, which are usually issued before construction starts.

Auckland Council has compiled its CCC figures since January 2013. The figures for March were the highest they have ever been for any month of the year apart from November last year when they hit 1581.

The figures show that the Council has been issuing CCCs for new housing at an average rate of more than 1000 a month since November last year, which suggests new housing supply in Auckland has doubled over the last five years and is continuing to increase.

In the 12 months to March this year 12,768 consents were issued for new dwellings, up from 11,318 in the year to March 2020 and 9429 in the year to March 2019.

The figures show that both the number of homes being completed in Auckland in any 12 month period and the rolling monthly average, are both running at their highest levels since the end of 2013 when data started to be collated.

That increase in supply combined with the hiatus in immigration due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, should have helped to ease housing shortages in Auckland over the last 12 months.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

You can have articles like this delivered directly to your inbox via our free Property Newsletter. We send it out 3-5 times a week with all of our property-related news, including auction results, interest rate movements and market commentary and analysis. To start receiving them, go to our email sign up page, scroll down to option 6 to select the Property Newsletter, enter your email address and hit the Sign Me Up button.

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

49 Comments

by Burni | 15th May 21, 8:14am 1621023242

Its better but still a far cry from the estimated 200k homes needed nationally.

by b21 | 15th May 21, 9:14am 1621026899

Why being so negative? This building rate is off the charts and refers to Auckland alone! Likely we are close to 2K country wide so we are rapidly eroding the so called shortage. The number you are referring to, where’s that coming from anyway? Take into account in Auckland alone there are about 50K empty homes which some might go into the market if investments don’t make sense anymore after the recent changes.

by PocketAces | 15th May 21, 5:21pm 1621056102

Well don't stand there moaning, get your magic wand waving, you'll have it sorted in a jiffy

by Fluffybunny | 16th May 21, 7:22am 1621106521

There are not 200k households living in tents

by AJ123 | 15th May 21, 8:21am 1621023687

This is not enough to fulfil increasing demand (waiting list for emergency housing is all time high), prices for small dwelling is also skyrocketing and there is no action by RBNZ.

Now time is passed, the crime is already committed (removing LVR, IO loan, slashing interest rates) it's irreversible.

by b21 | 15th May 21, 9:17am 1621027036

The problem is we are not building what people need but what builders believe can get them the highest profits. We have an oversupply of larger expensive homes, for which demand is not as high, guess what happens then.

by Squishy | 15th May 21, 11:55am 1621036555

Isn't that an accurate reflection of New Zealands wealth distribution? A small number of people have a great deal of wealth while most have very little. I'd be more surprised to see houses being built for a market that doesn't exist.

by Yvil | 15th May 21, 1:26pm 1621041962

I'm trying to buy an "expensive home" in the greater Ponsonby area, I have been looking seriously for 6 months and I can say with certainty that there is no oversupply of expensive houses in that area, quite the opposite!

by b21 | 15th May 21, 3:14pm 1621048464

I guess you are looking for a very specific thing then. Maybe broaden your search?

by Yvil | 15th May 21, 3:56pm 1621050966

TradeMe search for a house $3 - 3.5 Mill in all the following suburbs; Ponsonby, Freeman's Bay, St Mary's Bay, Herne Bay, Westmere & Grey Lynn show 8 (eight) houses for sale in total !

by Flying high | 15th May 21, 9:19pm 1621070395

Drop the bottom figure in your search and you will get nore hits. I think you will find that agents will say 2.5 when actually the vendor is looking for 3m. Then probably meet in the middle.

by b21 | 16th May 21, 7:48am 1621108121

Exactly, cherry picking is always been a an ally of bad statistics.

by Tombo77 | 18th May 21, 9:46am 1621287969

no one uses trademe for listing property in that range. You should know that.

by CWBW | 15th May 21, 8:29am 1621024141

No worries. Inflation will either slow down the production output or raise the cost of production. Either way, it's a good outcome for inclining price traction.

by northman46 | 15th May 21, 2:02pm 1621044122

Quite a selfish take on the housing crisis.

by Ngrrk | 16th May 21, 7:14am 1621106093

Quite? Its pathological.

by stuart786786 | 15th May 21, 8:43am 1621025021

Yeah supply is increasing but earlier 3 bedroom/ 4 bedroom house on 600sqmt plus section was available for $900000 and now tiny houses on 160sqmt are available for a million - now is on three level than on four level ( if not already).

This is Jacinda Arden and Mr Orr's defination of affordability and all going ga ga over it.

by b21 | 15th May 21, 9:20am 1621027204

Good news is that everybody else believes the same thing, which is the condition for a bubble to pop (except for the landlords club of course, they will tell you anything to keep their dream going on).

by Squishy | 15th May 21, 11:59am 1621036742

Reserve and Commercial Banks are happy to extend large mortgages currently, even to investors. If they believed house prices would fall they'd be forcing customers to build equity.

by b21 | 15th May 21, 3:16pm 1621048576

Not even close to as happily as they were a few months ago especially without a significant deposit or equity.

by Penfold | 15th May 21, 10:06am 1621029967

Greg, have you switched contexts part way through the article? Start giving annual stats for last 3 years for consents rather than CCCs? I'm confused whether this is a context switch or a typo?

by Squishy | 15th May 21, 11:52am 1621036338

In a way I'm surprised because they cost of building materials has jumped so rapidly but then the lead time on having a house delivered could be up to a year.

by Carlos67 | 15th May 21, 12:42pm 1621039334

Pretty sure that there would have been a huge rush over the summer to get everything possible on the market NOW during the current gold rush. People bang on here about supply but they are simply not going to build houses to have them simply sit about. Supply and price are linked and there will never be a flood of new housing just to help those that think that this will drop the prices, it makes no sense to release any more houses than those that will be sold in a reasonable timeframe. Building cost are still rising so house prices will keep rising. It will take an Epic crash in the whole NZ economy to change anything and at that point you will probably find your suddenly unemployed and cannot even afford the rent let alone a house.

by kiwiana02 | 15th May 21, 12:53pm 1621039990

Carlos - supply often overshoots demand. Investors cant always time the market, and commit to developing the property while times are good.

by Yvil | 15th May 21, 1:29pm 1621042148

Well said Carlos

by Sluggy | 16th May 21, 8:29am 1621110545

Housing will bring the rest of the economy down, not the other way round. Considering our economy is housing...

Developers make mistakes, Ive seen plenty go to the wall (20 plus years working for building supply merchants), your comment re not building to sit around, I get that but it doesnt take much to be caught, sentiment can turn on a dime, although I tend to agree we have generational - you never lose on a house - mentality, that will artificially prop the market up.

by 7jai | 15th May 21, 1:08pm 1621040902

I'm more concerned about the quality of the build, not the speed. From what I see, everyone is rushing to build houses - but no one talks about the quality and workmanship.

Whatever it takes to solve the supply shortage right?

by Yvil | 15th May 21, 1:30pm 1621042202

Right!

by BeeBop | 17th May 21, 6:25am 1621189520

I talk about the quality. Developers are maximising intensity, paying too much for 'easy to develop' land, and cutting the cost of the build...using cheap roofing, quick labour, and base materials....best to spend a bit more and get a build that will last for generations. Possible to keep the costs down too by watching where the costs lie!

by nktokyo | 15th May 21, 1:08pm 1621040933

Good stuff.

by RCD | 15th May 21, 2:15pm 1621044949

meanwhile, back on the farm
NZ vaccinations running at 390,000
just ahead of Mozambique at 360,000
Rwanda at 350,000
Malawi at 330,000

But way behind Uganda at 420,000 and half the vaccinations done in Zimbabwe at 730,000

Well done team.....

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423…

by Kohukohunui | 15th May 21, 3:54pm 1621050850

Mozambique population 30 million.
Rwanda 12.6 million.
Malawi 18.6 million.
Uganda 44 million.
Zimbabwe 14.6 million.

You might like to also list the number of Covid cases those countries have. All of which will be significantly underreporting the actual numbers, yet will still be massively higher than New Zealand both in total and per capita.

by Rex Pat | 15th May 21, 3:59pm 1621051183

What relevance does that have to the point?

by Nzdan | 16th May 21, 4:07pm 1621138059

Scale.

by frazz | 16th May 21, 10:46am 1621118815

RCE.. what does your comment have to do with house stats in Auckland?. Too many covid free nubskulls on this site.

by stuart786786 | 15th May 21, 4:27pm 1621052846

Only assured business is real estate in NZ..new goldmine :

https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/39433

by Davo3636 | 15th May 21, 6:06pm 1621058813

Yes it's crazy.

by nigelh | 15th May 21, 5:51pm 1621057886

You can have a CCC but does that means the house has been sold by the builder or developer? If more than say 90% have been sold then it indicates there is still plenty of money floating around, not necessarily at a reasonable price whatever that is, $750k? What size does that buy you? bedrooms? probably 2 and less than 80m2. Don't classify that as affordable.
Did an investigation about 3 weeks ago into a KiwiBuild in Akl Northern area, 2 bed with a parking space but turned out to be a dummy ad as none available but had an open market offer on a 1+study apartment at $640k including a car park.

by Takere | 15th May 21, 6:41pm 1621060913

$900k per day been spent on motels and 22,000+ people homeless living in motels.

How does any of this make sense? When do these things converge?

by WellingtonInvestor | 16th May 21, 1:31am 1621085517

A NZ property expert said on the radio last weekend that he didn't think there was a shortage of property in NZ, because we have been building record number so f new homes, and the borders have been shut for over a year. The problem is all the empty or airBNBs. When there is a 1/3 less houses on the market than normal, then something is wrong.

by WellingtonInvestor | 16th May 21, 1:32am 1621085522

by Carlos67 | 16th May 21, 4:50am 1621097431

So what is it exactly that is wrong ? My take on it is that the recent huge price gains has effectively taken another whole generation of Kiwis out of the housing market. So who is buying all the houses ? Either there are just less listings because people are hoodling houses or else anything listed is snapped up. The ultra low interest rates have distorted the housing market something terrible and the powers that be are refusing to acknowledge it. How many more months of this before its sorted ? If we hit summer with these low rates and the boarder begins to open we all know what the result will be.

by HouseMouse | 16th May 21, 8:56am 1621112165

Interesting article on Stuff this morning re: a potential brain drain to Aus, especially in areas such as nursing, care and teaching. Aus govt is pumping money and tax breaks into those areas.

by Yvil | 16th May 21, 9:13am 1621113206

Yep and the NZ government is freezing the nurses and teachers wages thus encouraging them to leave for OZ... It's just plain stupid

by brisket | 16th May 21, 9:30am 1621114239

It’s going to be a torrent I reckon. More because of housing than the pay freeze. A lot of young NZers have correctly reached the conclusion that their country does not give a damn

by frazz | 16th May 21, 10:48am 1621118882

Not the country..rather the Boomers

by Jesse1 | 16th May 21, 2:32pm 1621132366

Exactly! I'm spreading the word where I can. There is a solution to the NZ housing crisis for individuals - move to Australia!

by PonziKiwi | 16th May 21, 9:47am 1621115230

Great news!!

It means that unit you purchased for 900k will drop to 650k because of supply. Your house which doubled in value in which you used equity to buy a place in te aroha will half.. Because of supply. Because if you bring more apples into the market then apples will drop because of supply.

Yay for economics 101 because that applies to housing yay. Hang in there first home buyers because prices will half... Because of supply... Yay... Tui...

by jim hansford | 17th May 21, 1:23pm 1621214612

Well unfortunately that is not what will happen. It would if we built 200 k houses in a closed system. But the system isn't closed. The government has their hand firmly clasped on the immigration tap, and as soon as there is any sign of the property market falling they will open the tap. It's the demand side that drives prices up not supply binging it down. We have just seen it with Covid. Last year when it looked like falling,, the government raided the savings of many and drew down on the future tax take of the young,to print 64 billion, handing out to all sorts of people that didn't require it. They had to do this to bring down interest rates which is the only other demand side lever they could use while the immigration plumbing was stuck. The only thing that can bring it down other than targeted legislation is inflation and corresponding interest rates. But as the whole world has been fudging inflation figures since the GFC, I won't hold my breath.