Development update: October 2018
To most Aucklanders, 2018 looks a lot like 2017.
House prices have been flat, or have gone down a tiny bit, depending on what data you look at. Rents keep going up. Auckland is still growing, still congested, and still has sub-par public transport.…
10 Comments A new waterfront stadium proposal
A few weeks ago there were rumours about a new, privately funded stadium proposal for Auckland. The proposal has now been released and it’s far more than just a stadium with its backers saying it will become New Zealand’s largest ever infrastructure project and could be delivered within the next 10 years.…
Viewshaft E10: A Billion Dollar View on Auckland
This is a guest post from Geoff Cooper, Director of Economics at PwC, on work he’s done looking at viewshafts.
The Journal of New Zealand Economic Papers recently published ‘City With A Billion Dollar View’ by Geoff Cooper (Princeton University, but now at PwC) and Kabira Namit (World Bank).…
Flashback Saturday: Demographia fails Urban Economics 101
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Peter was originally published in March 2015.
Every year since 2005, pro-sprawl think-tank Demographia has published a new edition of its “International Housing Affordability Survey“. They report a “median multiple” measure of housing affordability that compares median house prices to median household incomes within a number of cities, mostly in the English-speaking world.…
Council chooses parking over housing
In June and July a series of guest posts ran on Greater Auckland about Co-housing, and the proposed Co-housing development in Grey Lynn. In summary these posts: Introduced the concept of co-housing
Explained the proposed co-housing development on Surrey Crescent in Grey Lynn
Noted the planning challenges the scheme faced, being located in a special character area Resource Consent for the scheme was submitted in March, with the application notified to households nearby in June 2018.…
Rental security set to improve
One implication of Auckland’s long-term housing shortage and resulting housing affordability crisis is that nearly half of all Aucklanders now live in rental accommodation. Among some ethnic groups, especially Maori and Pacific Islanders, most people live in rented accommodation.
There are also clear geographic trends, with much of South Auckland having especially low home ownership rates:
While several initiatives, like KiwiBuild, are aimed at boosting housing supply and thereby improving housing affordability, this will take a long time to filter through.…
Friends of the landlords – Wellington Councillors against affordable housing
This is a guest post by reader Frank McRae
Wellington’s housing crisis has dramatically worsened over the last few years with rapidly rising rents, record low listings, and lines down the street for flat viewings. Remarkably then Wellington City Council has just voted, against the advice of their own experts, to remove eight key Special Housing Areas which were setup to help ease the city’s housing shortage.…
Takapuna Carpark Consultation Results
As well as the Skypath news yesterday, on Wednesday the results of the consultation on what to do with the Takapuna carpark were announced.
In an independent survey conducted by Colmar Brunton, 69% of people preferred one of the two development proposals.…
Government forgets the Unitary Plan happened
The new Government has made some giant leaps forward in transport policy since they were elected last year, most notably through the 2018 Government Policy Statement and the progress that’s now being made on light-rail. A lot of their housing plans are also excellent, with major developments planned in areas close to light-rail lines, like Unitec and Mangere.…
Development update: August 2018
What a month it’s been for hotels. In the last month, the Herald has covered a number of new hotel announcements – an Indigo Hotel on Albert St, a Sudima Group hotel by the International Convention Centre, a TFE Hotels operation in Britomart, an Accor hotel at 500 Queen St and, out in Karaka, a Hilton one.…
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