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Building boom struggles to keep pace with New Zealand population growth

Xinhua, April 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

A record number of new homes and commercial buildings were approved in New Zealand last month, although critics said the figures fell well short of what was needed to house a population growing with record immigration.

Building consents reached an all-time high value of 2 billion NZ dollars (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) in March, of which new homes and residential alterations accounted for a record 1.2 billion NZ dollars (825.48 million U.S. dollars), the government's statistics agency said Friday.

The number of new homes consented actually slipped by 1.8 percent from February, when the number surged 17 percent, according to Statistics New Zealand.

In actual terms, a total of 2,779 new homes were consented, up 20 percent compared with March 2016.

Over the year ending March, 30,626 new homes were consented, up 10 percent from the previous March year.

This included 10,199 new homes in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city and home to a third of the population.

Building and Construction Minister Nick Smith said the construction sector was "growing about as fast as it practically can."

"Residential construction's strong growth is also being matched by high levels of investment in commercial buildings and infrastructure," Smith said in a statement.

"This strong growth in residential, commercial and infrastructure investment, both in Auckland and nationwide, confirms that New Zealand is experiencing its strongest building boom ever and reinforces the strength of the New Zealand economy."

The main opposition Labour Party said Auckland got less than half the new houses it needed in the past year to keep up with record population growth and the city's housing crisis was worsening.

"Auckland needed 16,000 houses last year. It got just 7,000. That is a massive shortfall on top of the existing shortage of housing in the city," Labour Party housing spokesperson Phil Twyford said in a statement.

"While Statistics New Zealand reports 10,000 houses were consented in Auckland last year, Auckland Council has stated that resulted in only 7,000 new houses being built. You can't sleep in a building consent."

Migrant arrivals hit 129,500 in the year ending March, a new annual record, Statistics New Zealand said Wednesday.

Migrant departures were 57,600, leading to a record annual net gain in migration of 71,900, which surpassed the previous annual record net gain of 71,300 migrants in the year ending in February.

Annual net migration has been steadily increasing since 2012. Endit