National building boom as cities build up
AUCKLAND: New Zealand is in a townhouse and apartment building boom, a record number of them having been signed off in the past year as firsthome buyers shun quarteracre doups for new properties.
Building plans for 10,000 new apartments and townhouses have been approved in the past 12 months as our cities increasingly grow up rather than out.
Almost 10 times as many apartments were signed off compared with the same period eight years ago. Many young Kiwis are choosing compact living options closer to the city.
Yet the craze for apartments and townhouses may also be helping fuel Auckland’s current record sale prices.
Developers are now paying big bucks for homes on large blocks that can be demolished to make way for highdensity homes.
Just last month, a modest home on 828sq m at 11 Crown St in Royal Oak sold for $3.025 million — $1.4 million above its council valuation.
Ray White Manukau agent and developer Tom Rawson said townhouses and apartments were booming not just because of the city lifestyles they afforded but because many were new builds.
‘‘We’ve created a situation where people want to get into a new house or apartment and they don’t want to have any maintenance and they want double glazing and insulation — they want the best of everything,’’ he said.
The rise in smaller homes was also being driven by skyhigh house prices linked to a national housing shortage.
To help meet buyer demand and drive prices down, analysts Infometrics estimated Auckland needed another 30,000 homes, and 10,000 were needed across the rest of the country.
Other pundits say even more are needed.
Planners consequently turned to apartments and townhouses. Not only do they tend to be cheaper than traditional homes, but more can be squeezed on to each parcel of land.
Authorities changed Auckland’s major planning document — the unitary plan — in late 2016 to allow more multistorey apartments and townhouses in centralcity suburbs close to public transport networks and shops.
The new focus on building up has come with a change in lifestyles as traditional quarteracre increasingly across the city.
‘‘We made some very difficult calls, but we made the right calls and that is showing up now in the dwelling consent data,’’ Auckland Council planning committee chairman Chris Darby said of the unitary plan changes.
He and James Wilson from property analysts Valocity also tipped their hats to private developers for increasingly building smaller homes that people wanted to live in.
Auckland’s Hobsonville Point, Stonefields and other new developments had not only removed the stigma of ‘‘housing intensification’’, but had become a hit with buyers, Mr Wilson said.
The most popular sweet spot with Auckland buyers were terrace houses and townhouses, ideally 10km15km from the city centre, Pete Evans from Colliers International said. — The New Zealand Herald
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