Housing, the Auckland Plan, and You!
When Auckland Council was formed in late 2010, one of the first things it was legally required to do was put together a spatial plan, a ‘vision document’ for the region. This was finalised in May 2012 as the “Auckland Plan”.…
77 Comments Kiwibuild: the good, the vague and the ugly
Labour’s Kiwibuild policy was first announced in 2012, and is now a flagship housing policy of the new Labour-led government. The key points haven’t changed much since 2012, although the detail has been fleshed out a bit since then. Those key points are: The government wants to build or facilitate 100,000 new homes over 10 years
At least half the new homes will be in Auckland
All Kiwibuild homes will be “affordable”
All Kiwibuild homes will be for first home buyers only The good
There’s a lot to like about the Kiwibuild program; I like the aspiration behind it, and I like the focus on affordable homes.…
Auckland’s Untold Growth Story
Today I’m officially launching the New Zealand Local Population Database. This brings together a huge amount of population data for the first time, showing how different parts of New Zealand have changed over 1891-2013. The database covers all council areas (regions and territorial authorities), as well as 260+ towns and cities (“urban areas”).…
Electric Vehicle targets and 2017 sales
In August 2016, the then-National government set a target for New Zealand to have 64,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2021. The target may have seemed ambitious – there were only 1,400 EVs in the country at the time the target was set – but we seem to be on track.…
Development update: Feb 2018
If you wander around Auckland (especially the city centre), you’ll notice that there’s a lot of construction going on, and a lot of people hard at work on those sites. 2017 was a big year for building and development. 2018 will probably be even bigger, but let’s recap 2017 for now.…
A love letter to the Kings Arms
Like many people in Auckland’s musical community, I was saddened to hear the Kings Arms being announced as a Special Housing Area in April 2016. It was inevitable the site would be developed for apartments one day – it was too good a location, too underdeveloped as it was, and increasingly struggling with noise issues – but it was still sad for me.…
Development Update: December 2017
As I sat down to write this “Development Update” post, the 30th one I’ve done, I realised I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. So I thought I’d throw it over to you guys, our Greater Auckland readers.…
Development update: November 2017
Good news, everyone – in the year to September 2017, for the first time ever, Auckland consented more “attached” homes than it did standalone houses.
Why is that good news? Auckland has a housing shortage, so any home is a good home, right?…
Development update: October 2017
Patrick’s great post on Hamilton the other day prompted me to take a closer look at Hamilton for this Development Update. Like its “Golden Triangle” buddies Auckland and Tauranga, Hamilton is growing at a rate of knots. Let’s hope we can get even better connections between the three with Regional Rapid Rail.…
Development update: September 2017
Despite it being winter, and almost an election, and house prices in Auckland having backed off a bit this year, there have still been a number of apartments ‘launched to the market’ in the last couple of months.
Interestingly, the eastern suburbs are finally getting some love.…
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