Mostly Brownfield developments too

During the Unitary Plan debate of 2013-2016 it was noted housing builds were slowing down for that period of time. But as I also stated back then once the Unitary Plan went live (November 2016) things would accelerate again – and they have with record breaking building activity.

From the Office of the Mayor – Phil Goff :

Unitary Plan helps spark record building activity in Auckland

Auckland’s Unitary Plan continues to spur building activity across the region with a record 10,637 dwellings completed (Code of Compliance Certificates issued) in the 12 months to December 2018.

Mayor Phil Goff says 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, issued record levels of building consents and established a new record for the proportion of new dwellings within existing urban areas.

“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,” Phil Goff says.

Chair of Council’s Regulatory Committee, Councillor Linda Cooper, says the trending increase in new dwelling numbers is supported by gradually reduced CCC timeframes: “Of the 869 Code of Compliance Certificates issues in December 2018, 94 per cent were issued to dwelling units that had building consents granted within the past two years.”

Of the 938 new dwellings that were consented in December 2018, 45 percent were houses, 27 per cent were apartments and 28 per cent were townhouses, flats, units, retirement units or other types of attached dwellings.

“We’re also seeing a subtle change in the size of newly created residential land parcels, with decreases in the number of parcels sized 1000 m2 to 1999 m2, matched by increases in those sized less than 1000 m2,” Cr Cooper says. “This shows the affect the Unitary Plan is having in delivering a more compact urban form, with a range of housing types.”

Chair of Council’s Planning Committee, Councillor Chris Darby notes the consistent demand for housing that is close to employment, transport and amenity.

“The Unitary Plan recognises that housing and transport need to be planned in unison. 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 per cent, of new dwellings consented are within 1500m of a rapid transport station. That’s an increase of more than 8 per cent from the year before.”

The Unitary Plan enables us to build communities, rather than homes in isolation – people want to be in areas where they are well connected by public transport to jobs, education, friends and amenity. Around 92 per cent of new dwellings are located within the existing Rural Urban Boundary. This enables the utilisation of existing infrastructure, and ensures that development across the city is both cohesive and planned.”

So a lot of new dwellings are happening in existing urban areas although there is still a fair amount of Greenfield sprawl as well.

Interesting to note this:

“The Unitary Plan recognises that housing and transport need to be planned in unison. 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 per cent, of new dwellings consented are within 1500m of a rapid transport station. That’s an increase of more than 8 per cent from the year before.”

So we are seeing an increase in dwellings being built within 1.5km of a transit station (1.5km is the extended reach using feeder busses, cycling or park and ride) so this is extremely encouraging to see.

Goff’s remarks come on the back of the report about building activity that can be read below:

New record for building activity in Auckland

Published: 25 February 2019S

New consenting data shows the Unitary Plan is working by providing housing options in the areas where Aucklanders want to live, with more than 90 per cent of dwellings being consented within Auckland’s urban area.

Latest figures from Auckland Council’s Research and Evaluation Unit (RIMU) show the proportion of dwellings consented within the Rural Urban Boundary (RUB) has increased.

The figures also showed that in the year ending December 2018, 10,637 dwellings were ‘completed’ by having a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) issued, setting a new record for building activity in a 12-month period on Auckland Council records.

In December 2018, 865 dwellings were consented within the existing urban area which is 92 per cent of consents for December. More than half of these consents were for attached dwellings such as apartments, terraced housing or units.

“The Unitary Plan removed much of the regulation around density and since it became operational we’ve seen most of Auckland’s housing growth happening within urban areas” says Penny Pirrit, Director of Urban Growth and Housing.

“Areas that are well serviced by transport are highly desirable and we’re seeing evidence of this in our latest data. In December 38.4% of dwellings consented were within 1500m walking distance of a rapid transport station and this is up from 30.3% in December 2017.

“Through the Unitary Plan we have created more than enough land supply to support Auckland’s growth for the next 30 years and we’re focused on enabling quality intensification in areas that are already serviced by existing infrastructure like water and transport.

“Aucklanders have told us they want strong communities where people can come together and connect. We don’t want to create housing suburbs on the outskirts of our city that isolate people from the rest of the city.”

Other key findings from RIMU’s Auckland Monthly Housing Update for January:

• 938 dwellings received building consents in December.
• In the year ending December 2018, 12,862 dwellings were granted building consents in the region.
• 45 per cent of new dwellings consented in December 2018 were houses, 27 per cent were apartments and 28 per cent were townhouses, flats, units, retirement units, or other types of dwellings.
• 92 per cent of dwellings consented in December 2018 were inside the RUB. Over the past 12 months, 93 per cent of new dwellings consented were inside the RUB.
• 869 dwellings were ‘completed’ by having a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) issued in December 2018.
• In the year ending December 2018, 10,637 dwellings were issued with a CCC, setting a new record for CCCs issued in a 12-month period.

The full report can be found on Knowledge Auckland here.

Source: Our Auckland

Given the level of Brownfield development I suggest we should look at all our parking lots as well as they are ripe for some redevelopment: Rethinking Parking in Suburbia and even Urban Environments

Furthermore extending our rapid transit system would greatly assist as well: Light Rail for $2.5 Billion? Possible? Yes While Improving Accessibility and Social Equity

And with all this Brownfield development occurring the case for removing the Rural Urban Boundary becomes extremely weak: Bye Bye Rural Urban Boundary and Hello Infrastructure Commission?

In the end though with the uptake of residential builds occurring near transit stations I hope we are seeing an uptake of Mixed Use developments rather than single use developments as well, lest we are still encouraging excessive commutes regardless of transport mode: Affordable Housing – A Presentation on Typology and How We Can Not Forget Transport in the Affordability Equation