Auckland house consents soar in 2013

Auckland house and apartment building is at a five-year high, with nearly 5700 dwelling consents issued in the year to October.

Geoff Cooper, Auckland Council chief economist, said this was the highest annual figure since 2008 and a 28 per cent increase over the year to October, 2012.

The 2013 Census showed Auckland had 469,500 households, up from 434,268 in the 2006 Census, he said.

In his first issue of the Housing Matters newsletter just out, Cooper cited the potential for the number of new houses built here to increase, after the Government and council's Special Housing Areas.

The first tranche of those has been identified and the second tranche was announced yesterday, Cooper said.

"Resource consent lodgements for land supply and subdivision have already grown strongly over the past 12 months, including for major greenfield developments. This includes a pickup in resource consent applications for major apartment buildings and major subdivisions," Housing Matters said.

The Herald has also reported on eight giant tower cranes on Auckland's horizon, building many new commercial and residential buildings.

SugarTree between Union St and Nelson St in the CBD is the biggest block going up. It will have 615 units in three separate blocks, rising up to 11 levels.

Rachael Logie, the council's senior economist, said no data existed to quantify the city's housing shortage but it was likely to be between one and two years' worth of supply at the current levels of consent activity.