Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Increasing House Prices Caused by Poor Council Planning

Warnings of a property boom and bust have been made in the last few weeks by a variety of international institutions, the Reserve Bank and credit agencies.

Whilst it is accepted low interest rates have facilitated capital growth the fact remains that a lack of housing stock in Auckland continues to be a worrying problem.

Councillor Dick Quax blames poor management of land resources by Auckland Council for the lack of zoned land.

“Council has failed to ensure land release for a variety of reasons not least of which is the poor quality of the information that the Auckland Council has. Recently, Mayor Len Brown claimed that were 15,000 construction ready residential sites when in fact there are less than 2,000,” says Cr Quax

Another significant factor is that rezoned land within in metropolitan urban limits – the MUL - has failed to produce wide scale gentrification through demolition of existing uses that would be replaced by more intensively built housing. Whilst zoned capacity has been provided over time it has not resulted in change because existing uses are the highest and best use.

The result is a lack of credible land supply both inside and outside the MUL.

“Release of land supply in greenfield and brownfield locations in the future must be managed in a more sophisticated manner to ensure that a robust management programme can deliver a supply of land at the right time.”

There is certainly no confidence that Council is making the right choices and that raises the question as to why Aucklanders should trust their Council in relation to the Unitary Plan.

Failures by Council to consult meaningfully with the community, business, property developers and property investors to better prepare its plans has created a climate of distrust. More concerning Council officials and some activist politicians have run their own agenda and created an unworkable plan.

“A fast tracked Unitary Plan should not happen. Unless the Unitary Plan is implemented with all stakeholders meaningfully engaged in the process we cannot expect the best possible outcome for the Auckland people.”

Ends

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