Spin claim on housing accord push

However, asked how many homes had actually been built under the accord, a spokeswoman for Dr Smith said neither the Government nor the council kept count of completed houses. Photo / Nick Reed

The Government is trumpeting the creation of 11 new special housing areas to help tackle soaring Auckland house prices.

But it is being accused of "spin" and failing to build enough houses to address a worsening shortfall as migrants flock to the city.

Eleven new special housing areas (SHAs) are being set up across Auckland with the potential to provide 1600 new homes.

The announcement, made yesterday by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and Auckland Mayor Len Brown, said the new "brownfield areas" would bring the total number of SHAs in Auckland to 97.

But it remains unclear how many homes have actually been completed as a result of the Auckland Housing Accord.

The median house price in Auckland last month was $735,000 - up 20.5 per cent from a year ago.

The new SHAs will offer a mixture of dwelling types with fast-tracked consents at sites across the North Shore, central city, West Auckland and South Auckland.

A proportion of the homes will have to be priced in the "affordable" range.

"And they mark further progress under the partnership between the Government and the council to improve housing supply and affordability in our largest city," Dr Smith said.

The minister and mayor also released the latest Housing Accord monitoring report - covering the nine months from October 2014 to June 2015 - which they said showed building consents in Auckland at a 10-year high.

"This report shows the house build rate in Auckland, at 8300 per year, is the fastest in a decade. The rate has grown at over 20 per cent per year since 2012 - the longest and strongest period of growth ever," Dr Smith said.

However, asked how many homes had actually been built under the accord, a spokeswoman for Dr Smith said neither the Government nor the council kept count of completed houses.

Labour's housing spokesman Phil Twyford said no amount of spin could hide the fact that in nearly two years, only 1019 building consents had been issued in the SHAs.

"Now, the minister won't say publicly how many houses have been completed, he claims that that information's not available."