Month: December 2014

Housing Dynamic Changes

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Stats NZ Reports

 

Statistics New Zealand has reported that the housing dynamics as well as other indicators in Auckland are now pretty much unique compared to the rest of New Zealand. Of course and being a realist this is expected (even the negative indicators) in New Zealand’s sole international city of sizable comparison.

From Stats NZ

Auckland housing now very different from the rest of NZ

Auckland’s housing has changed markedly over the past two decades as the city reacts to its growing population, with more multi-storey homes, greater density, and fewer unoccupied homes all making it very different to the rest of the country, according to the latest research from Statistics New Zealand.17 December 2014

Housing in Auckland: Trends in housing from 1991 to 2013 uses the latest 2013 Census information, showing that in the seven years between the last two censuses, Auckland’s population grew by 8.5 percent, faster than the number of dwellings, which increased by 7.6 percent.

Statistics NZ researcher and report author Rosemary Goodyear says the aim of the report is to give agencies working in the housing area in Auckland information they need. “We hope this type of information will be useful to both policymakers deciding where services might be valuable, but also to developers deciding where to focus their efforts.”

“We’ve found that since the 1990s, housing in Auckland has changed so much that it’s now distinct from the rest of New Zealand. There are more multi-storey dwellings, lower rates of home-ownership, more renting, and house prices have risen to higher levels than in other parts of New Zealand.”

“It is not only young people who have been affected by the fall in home ownership,” Dr Goodyear said. “There have been substantial drops in home ownership for Aucklanders aged in their 30s, 40s, and 50s since 2001.”

Dr Goodyear says Statistics NZ worked closely with agencies in Auckland to find out what information they wanted to know about housing in the region.

One of the key findings of the report is that since 2006, building consents in Auckland are lower per head of population than in the rest of New Zealand. In 2013, there were 358 building consents per 100,000 people in Auckland compared with 423 per 100,000 for New Zealand overall. However, the number of building consents issued for new dwellings in Auckland has increased since the low point in 2009 to reach almost 7,000 in the year to March 2014.

The report also found that dwelling density had increased significantly in Auckland between 2001 and 2013, from 85.5 to 102.0 dwellings per square kilometre. In 2013, the most dense area units (Auckland Central East and Auckland Central West) had over 5,000 dwellings per square kilometre.

“Levels of crowding have remained persistently high in Auckland,” Dr Goodyear said. “In 2013 almost half of crowded households in New Zealand were in the Auckland region, compared with just over a third in 1991.” Over 200,000 people in Auckland, including around 63,000 children, are now living in a crowded household. Crowding was highest among Pacific peoples, with 45.3 percent of Pacific peoples in Auckland living in a crowded household in 2013.

Read the report – Housing in Auckland: Trends in housing from the Census of Population and Dwellings 1991 to 2013.

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Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1412/S00484/auckland-housing-now-very-different-from-the-rest-of-nz.htm

 

This shows with our Unitary Plan that we need to make sure our master planing document is not loaded up with anal development controls that restrict as well as make developments cost prohibitive. Flexibility is the key to make sure that both consents are available in timely manners and crowding is reduced through the supply of all housing typologies being efficient. Something again development controls bung up.

I suppose we will know how the Unitary Plan will shape out come 2016 when the Hearings Panel makes it recommendations to Council.

 

Bus Livery – GO!

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Auckland Transport Debut’s the new Bus Livery

 

Yesterday in rather windy conditions Auckland Transport launched the new public transport livery we will be seeing across the buses through out Auckland.

From Auckland Transport

AT Metro brand makes its debut

16/12/2014 02:14 p.m.

Metro Branding2
The NEX Bus Livery Source: Auckland Transport

 

Auckland Transport has unveiled its new look for public transport in the city.

At a ceremony in Auckland the Deputy Mayor, Penny Hulse and Auckland Transport Chairman Dr Lester Levy launched the AT Metrobrand which will be phased in over three years, starting with LINK services and the Northern Express.

The single brand identity will be differentiated by colour for different types of services and will gradually be applied to buses, trains and ferries.

Auckland Transport’s General Manager Marketing and Customer Experience Mike Loftus says a single identity will give Aucklanders and visitors a clearer understanding of what public transport is on offer, and how buses, trains and ferries serve different areas.

“Most metropolitan cities have a single brand network that is easy to recognise and enables clear, consistent communication with customers.”

“Currently in Auckland there is no single identity, we have a variety of brands and looks. Customers relate to buses by the operator name rather than the wider public transport network”.

Auckland Transport’s Group Manager Public Transport Mark Lambert says having a single public transport network will ultimately build public confidence in the developing and improving PT system. “Knowing that all the services are integrated and part of the same system will help grow patronage”.

The implementation of the livery is already underway and budgeted for the electric trains.

Costs for the bus fleet will be kept to a minimum through:

  • retention of ocean blue for Rapid Network services (Northern Express is already this colour).
  • retention of red, green, orange and light blue for existing targeted services of the City LINK, Inner LINK, Outer LINK and Airbus.
  • the rest of the bus fleet to be transitioned as part of new contracts and costs incurred through new contract rates.

Mr Lambert says Auckland’s bus operators are aware of the changes and are working with Auckland Transport.

The Auckland Plan looks to double public transport trips from 70 million in 2012 to 140 million in 2022. The Auckland Plan’s priorities for Auckland’s transport system include “a single system transport network approach that manages current congestion problems and accommodates future business population growth to encourage a shift toward public transport.”

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Source: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/news-events/at-metro-brand-makes-its-debut/

 

Costs of the rebrand noted in red above. And I believe the yellow on the front of the buses is to act as a safety feature in being bright and attention catching before someone asks.