Big building year predicted

A bumper building year has been forecast for Auckland this year.

Mayor Len Brown says he is expecting approvals for about 7000 new homes in Auckland during the 2013-2014 year.

Less than 6400 building consents were granted in Auckland last year.

‘‘It’s clear that we are entering a growth phase for Auckland home building. Over the next few years Aucklanders will see a lot more building activity across the region, with a good mix of apartments, terraced houses and standalone houses,’’ he says.

The number of houses constructed in Auckland dipped sharply in 2009 with only 3500 consents granted. The most recent peak of activity was the more than 12,000 building consents granted in 2004.

‘‘This boost in residential construction has been helped by strong economic growth, greater certainty for developers and improvements to the council’s consenting processes.’’

The Auckland Housing Accord will allow 39,000 new sections to be developed in the next three years.

Apartments are becoming a larger proportion of new homes with 1918 new apartment consents granted in the past six months.

The council has been keeping up with granting consents efficiently despite the large influx, Mr Brown says.

‘‘Although volumes are much higher than previous years, the building and resource consent teams have continued to perform, with at least 95 per cent of consents processed within statutory timeframes.’’