Auckland’s stalled housing developments a year on: What’s changed

This half-finished apartment block in Auckland's Epsom has been derelict for the past six years. Photo / RNZ, Melanie Earley

By Melanie Earley of RNZ

Unfinished housing developments are dotted across the Auckland region, with many seemingly in a state of limbo.

The derelict properties often led to concerns from local communities about vandalism and squatters.

A year ago, RNZ looked at several stalled developments in Auckland and explored the reasons behind why they had been left in various unfinished states.

As 2026 begins, have any of the developments been finished or demolished? Or do they continue to sit in a dilapidated state?

‘Blight on Epsom landscape’ remains

Originally called The Epsom Central Apartments Project, this building on Manukau Rd has sat unfinished for years. Photo / RNZ, Melanie Earley

The Epsom Central Apartments Project halted six years ago after Auckland Council found it had not complied with building consent.

The original partnership, Epsom Central Apartments LP, was put into receivership in 2022, and purchased by Xiao Liu, the director of a company named Reeheng Ltd, in 2023.

A year ago, locals complained the building was a “blight on the Epsom landscape” and had at one point been filled with rats and squatters.

In 2025, no noticeable progress had been made to the building, the owner of former neighbouring business Just Laptops, Forrest Tan, said.

Since then, Tan had demolished his building, partly to prepare for a rebuild he said, and partly because a previous scaffolding collapse at the derelict site next door had damaged his old building.

“This would be an ideal time to demolish [the building]. My site is now a clear, open space. Once my new building goes up, demolition would be extremely difficult since it’s a boundary-to-boundary structure on a busy stretch of road.”

The building is on Epsom's busy Manukau Rd. Photo / RNZ, Melanie Earley

When RNZ visited the site, there was no obvious work ongoing, but the precarious-looking scaffolding did appear to have been tidied up or replaced and pedestrians no longer had to walk underneath it.

Has NZ’s highest residential tower restarted?

The Seascape apartment project was on hold for about a year. Photo / RNZ, Ziming Li

New Zealand’s would-be tallest apartment building, Seascape tower in Auckland’s CBD, had construction halted for about a year.

In September 2024, it was reported the work had stalled because of a dispute between the developer and the builder.

But a year later, work resumed on the tower with contractors beginning to appear at the site.

Bayleys was also running a marketing campaign for unsold units with the words “a new chapter begins”.

Pukekohe’s ‘lock and leave’ houses

The Valley Rd construction project in Pukekohe. Photo / RNZ, Melanie Earley

Several duplexes on Pukekohe’s Valley Rd had remained just the wooden frames of houses for at least a year, locals said, but it appeared as though some construction had been underway in 2025.

A year on, the duplexes were still covered in scaffolding and behind a fence, with no workers on site when RNZ visited, but it was obvious construction had been taking place.

The lots were listed for sale by Barfoot and Thompson in mid-2025, with the listing stating construction was due to be completed in “late 2025”.

‘Eyesore’ no more

In the coastal suburb of Mairangi Bay on the North Shore, a new build construction site which long worried locals as work appeared to have stalled was moving forward at some pace.

Nick Rogers, who lives near the site on Beach Rd, said work on the site seemed to stall in 2024 with just the exterior shell created.

But by the end of 2025, Rogers said work was underway again.

“It restarted about two or three months ago and is at quite some pace! Locals are relieved,” he said.

According to property records, the site was last sold in 2015 – it was not yet clear when the construction was due to finish.

Kingsland’s ‘The George’

The George on New North Road in Kingsland. Photo / RNZ, Melanie Earley

Marketing for The George on New North Rd in Kingsland began emerging in early 2022, and was listed at the time by Harcourts, as nine luxury townhouses starting at a price of $1,785,000.

A website for the development had long since been defunct, but when RNZ visited the site in December, it was an active construction site.

Despite being little more than some planks of wood and a fence scrawled with graffiti a year ago, the building had now taken shape.

The developer of the site, CSS Luxury Homes said the site was due to be finished in mid to late 2026.

Vinod Kumar Chawla, the director of the company, said the project had stalled because of issues with finances.

“Many ups and downs but good times will come again,” he said.

“It’s a good location, top class finishing … one of the best in the city.”