Auckland’s skyline is rising and its backyard lawns are vanishing, new figures released to the Herald show.
Standalone houses are set to tumble from 62% of the city’s housing stock to just 27%, while higher-intensity homes like townhouses and apartments surge from 36% to a dominant 70%, signalling a big shift in how Auckland lives, builds and grows.
Auckland Council has released the figures as part of a sweeping new urban development plan being directed by RMA Minister Chris Bishop.
The council has also released data for the Herald to create interactive maps allowing people to compare the current zoning for their home with the latest proposals, and the current zoning in their Local Board area with what is planned.
The colours on the maps illustrate the changing face of the city’s suburbs. There are also plans for 10- and 15-storey apartments within a 10-minute walk of 44 town centres, train stations and rapid bus stations, taking the city’s total capacity to two million homes.
Currently, suburban Auckland contains about 326,000 standalone houses and 190,000 terraced homes and apartments.
But under the draft replacement plan unveiled last month, those figures would reverse, as single homes are replaced with terraced houses and apartments.
Over the coming decades, the capacity for terraced homes and apartments is projected to rise to about 370,000, while the number of standalone houses would shrink to just 140,000.
At a packed public meeting in Mt Eden last Thursday, council planner Celia Davison said the latest draft plan was “really significant” and would change the way Auckland looks over a very long time if the council goes ahead with it this month.
Writing for the Herald, Urban Auckland chairwoman Julie Stout said the city must embrace intensification, but noted the Mt Eden meeting revealed unease about how that transformation would unfold.
“People wanted to understand the broader implications – on infrastructure, schools, amenities and of course, their own homes and neighbourhoods,” she said.
Stout argued that Auckland urgently needed greater housing diversity to tackle affordability and open the market to those currently locked out.
“Affordability comes with building at scale,” she said. “This plan enables that through increased height and density around transit hubs and town centres.”
She also called for a clear process for local involvement, such as council- or community-led precinct plans.
“Locals have a personal stake in ensuring their neighbourhoods thrive – with the right amenities, open spaces and infrastructure. They must be kept informed and involved.”
The draft plan also introduces stricter regulations for areas prone to natural hazards such as flooding and coastal erosion.
About 12,000 properties most at risk from natural hazards are being “downzoned”, making new developments on them harder or impossible. Of those properties, 2000 are in flood plains and 10,000 are subject to coastal erosion.
The areas most impacted by coastal erosion are the Eastern Bays suburbs of Kohimarama, Mission Bay and St Heliers, and Browns Bay on the North Shore.
Councillors are set to vote on September 24 on whether to proceed with the draft replacement plan, or Plan Change 78 – the council’s response to the previous Government’s Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), which permit three homes of up to three storeys on most residential sites.
Councillors have signalled a preference for the draft replacement plan.
If this occurs, and subject to agreement from the minister, Bishop, the proposal will be publicly notified. This will trigger a formal consultation process, including hearings before an independent panel of experts, ahead of the final decisions.
Bishop said the Government granted the council the ability to withdraw from the MDRS, provided the new plan maintained overall housing capacity and focused on intensification around key transport hubs, particularly stations benefiting from the City Rail Link.
While PC78 enabled capacity for about two million homes over the coming decades, he said, this figure was not a mandated target. The new plan must match that level of enabled capacity to avoid reversing progress on housing supply.
Bishop said the council had come up with revised standards for medium density that were better suited to Auckland’s urban context.
“Some of these settings include requirements for what local infrastructure is needed to be in place to support new density,“ he said.
“I encourage Aucklanders to have their say. Auckland needs to both grow up and out to solve its housing crisis.”
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.