The Government has today released the Business Growth Agenda 2017 Refresh Report with a focus on continuing to deliver strong economic growth for the benefit of all New Zealanders, Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges say.

“The Refresh reflects the Government’s ongoing commitment to responsible financial and economic management, together with a sustained programme of micro-economic reform and large infrastructure investments,” Mr Joyce says.

“Turning opportunities into economic benefits requires Government to be persistent and take a system-wide, long-term view of our work, and for that work to make sense to people and business,” Mr Bridges says. “In particular, we are investing for a growing and resilient economy to provide sustainable growth so the benefits are shared by all of New Zealand’s people and regions.”

The Ministers highlighted key actions in the Business Growth Agenda 2017 Refresh across the main work programmes:

Building Export Markets: Delivering Trade Agenda 2030 to make New Zealand more internationally connected through trade and investment and people flows and take advantage of growth across the Asia-Pacific region to create greater prosperity.

Building Investment: Attracting higher levels of international investment throughout New Zealand that brings job growth, improves skills, and increases innovation and R&D.

Building Innovation: Maintain and extend the growth of New Zealand’s hi-tech sector, and use Callaghan Innovation programmes, the Primary Growth Partnership and the Endeavour Fund to maintain the growth in Business R & D to at least one per cent of GDP.

Building Skilled and Safe Workplaces: Maximising the availability of skilled people from our domestic workforce and attracting skilled workers internationally to meet the ongoing job growth in the New Zealand economy, which is currently running at 10,000 net new jobs a month.

Building Natural Resources: Achieving the right regulatory balance in the resources sectors to allow regional economies to grow while protecting and improving environmental outcomes.

Building Infrastructure: Successfully delivering the Government’s budgeted $32.5 Billion capital infrastructure investment over the next four years, and planning for the four years after that.

The BGA was first set up in 2012 and is the Government’s organising framework for economic growth and micro-economic reform. It aims to create an environment that businesses can grow and thrive in by through six different streams of work and three cross-cutting themes.

The BGA includes the cross-cutting themes that target strengthening Maori Economic Development, boosting regional economic development and achieving a straightforward, responsive and flexible regulatory environment.

“It is businesses that create growth and jobs. Government has a vital role to play in creating an environment that sets the conditions that help businesses achieve that growth, through policies surrounding skills, infrastructure, innovation and investment,” Mr Bridges says.

“New Zealand is now consistently achieving stronger economic growth than many other developed countries,” Mr Joyce says.   “It is only by maintaining a strong and consistent economic plan that we can keep strengthening our economy further and deliver greater prosperity for all New Zealanders. The BGA is a key part of that plan.”

The Business Growth Agenda 2017 Refresh is available at: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/business/business-growth-agenda/2017

Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister, Paul Goldsmith have today released the Government’s response to the most extensive review of tertiary education in more than a decade, and outlined its plan for delivering a responsive, innovative, and effective tertiary education system.

“The Productivity Commission released New Models of Tertiary Education in March, providing the Government with an opportunity to set out a clear vision and the future direction for tertiary education at a time of rapid job creation, where the demand for skills has seldom been higher,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government’s response signals areas for immediate action, as well as the proposed direction for future work.

“While New Zealand has a high performing tertiary education system, the Commission has identified some areas that can prevent the system innovating and responding to the evolving needs of New Zealand and New Zealanders,” Mr Goldsmith says.

“Over the next year, we will work with the sector as we begin to identify how to deliver some of the recommendations. We will also begin consulting with stakeholders later this year as we work to develop a new Tertiary Education Strategy in 2018.”

The work programme will focus on four key areas.

Creating a more student-centred system: Providing students with the right information to make good decisions about their education, and move easily through education and between education and employment. Meeting the needs of industry through relevant, responsive, and supportive teaching: Supporting education organisations to offer relevant, high-quality education so graduates have the skills they need to find and maintain sustainable employment. Improving performance across the system: Ensuring that government policy supports providers and government agencies to adapt and respond quickly and effectively to the needs and demands of students, employers, industry and wider society. Enabling and encouraging innovative new models and providers: We want to ensure that the system is open to new and innovative ideas, and able to experiment, so that it delivers the best possible outcomes for New Zealand.

“The Government also made it clear early on that it would not be accepting the Commission’s recommendation to reinstate interest on student loans. That position has not changed now that we have identified our approach to all 49 of the recommendations,” Mr Goldsmith says.

“This is an opportunity for everyone involved with tertiary education to help shape and safeguard its future. I look forward to engaging with business, stakeholders, students, and the public to achieve a positive outcome for New Zealand.”

The Government’s formal response to the Productivity Commission’s report New Models of Tertiary Education can be found HERE.

The Government will co-invest up to $600 million alongside local councils and private investors in network infrastructure for big new housing developments through a re-purposed ultra-fast broadband company, Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Local Government Minister Anne Tolley say.

“Crown Fibre Holdings will be re-named Crown Infrastructure Partners, and bring the investment skills and experience gained through the Government’s world-leading ultra-fast broadband rollout to the job of attracting private investment in roading and water infrastructure that open up big new tracts of land for more housing development,” Mr Joyce says.

"Crown Infrastructure Partners will set up special purpose companies to build and own new trunk infrastructure for housing developments in return for dedicated long term revenue streams from councils through targeted rates and volumetric charging for use of the infrastructure by new residents.”

“This innovative new funding method will be made available to cash-strapped councils who are struggling to fund new long-term infrastructure from their own balance sheets,” Mrs Tolley says.

“Councils will have the option of buying back the infrastructure at some point in the future, but won’t have to commit to doing so. This is all about introducing outside capital to build this infrastructure, so current ratepayers don’t get burdened with all the costs of growth.”

Two of the earliest projects to be assessed by Crown Infrastructure Partners for investment will be the Auckland North and Auckland South projects previously submitted by Auckland Council as requiring investment outside the Council’s own balance sheet.

“These two large projects can provide an additional 5,500 homes in Wainui to the north of Auckland, and 17,800 homes across Pukekohe, Paerata and Drury to the south of the city,” Mrs Tolley says.

Mr Joyce says the Government is prepared to be an investor alongside the private sector and take up some of the early uptake risk.

“We learnt from the ultra-fast broadband programme that if we de-risk some of the early stages of the investment, we can bring in private sector investors to take on much of the heavy lifting as the investments mature,” Mr Joyce says. “We would expect the Crown’s investment in each project to be matched with at least one to one with private sector investment over time.”

“This new model is another way in which we are helping Councils in our fastest growing cities to open up more land supply so more Kiwis can achieve the goal of home ownership,”

Mr Joyce says it forms part of our comprehensive programme for lifting housing supply to meet the needs of a confident growing country.

“Crown Infrastructure Partners is the logical next step in infrastructure funding following the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund which will deliver 60,000 houses across our fastest growing population centres over the next ten years.

Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) Questions and Answers

What is Crown Infrastructure Partners?

CIP is a Crown company (formerly Crown Fibre Holdings) that is being tasked with designing and implementing new commercial models to attract co-investment from the private or other sectors and achieve the Government’s objectives for the efficient deployment of water and roading infrastructure to support the timely increase of housing supply. 

The aim is to increase the total investment in local arterial roading and network water projects needed to make more housing development possible by tapping private sources of capital.

Why repurpose CFH as CIP?

A number of corporate structures were identified during the review phase. Establishing a Special Purposes Vehicle (SPV) that investors, councils and government have confidence in requires a high level of commercial and financial expertise. This expertise currently exists which CFH and since the Ultra-Fast Broadband programme is nearing completion (Phase 1 is 75 per cent complete), that work will start to wind down which means there is capacity to start this new project. In addition, repurposing an entity like CFH is significantly cheaper and more efficient than establishing a new entity.

What is the aim of CIP?

CIP will work to speed up housing developments. The aim is that by introducing different sources of capital, it will allow the infrastructure required for this growth to be brought forward earlier than would be possible if it was funded entirely from Council balance sheets.

Some high growth Councils in New Zealand are constrained in their ability to take on further debt to invest in infrastructure. Many of these high-growth Councils are near their borrowing limits, and so cannot finance the infrastructure investments needed to keep up with demand. This limits their ability to open up the supply of land for housing construction, which in turn feeds into higher house prices.

How will CIP speed up housing developments?

CIP will look at how Crown investment through an SPV might be designed to bring forward the provision of infrastructure, particularly in these high-growth areas, to enable housing supply to be brought forward.

The long-term goal is to change the market for infrastructure provision in New Zealand. CIP will fix this problem by establishing SPVs. The role of the SPVs will be to invest in roading and water infrastructure assets in the place of Councils. In return the SPV will receive a stream of revenues from developers or the households that use the infrastructure. In the case of developers, that revenue may be in the form of a one-off payment. In the case of households, the cost of the infrastructure will be recouped over the life of the asset through a targeted rate or volumetric charging.

The advantage of the SPV model is that it allows land owners and developers to bring forward the infrastructure projects that would otherwise not have started for a number of years due to councils’ financial constraints. This is because a key feature of a SPV is that the debt it takes on is reflected on the SPV’s balance sheet, not the council’s. As such it does not affect councils’ debt limits, and frees up the local infrastructure funding bottleneck.

Why look for private capital instead of traditional rates funding?

Rates are tax levied against property owners to pay for the goods and services they receive from their local council. As such there are affordability and equity considerations that councils have to take into account when setting rates. For instance, it is not equitable to ask ratepayers to fully pay for long-term infrastructure today when it will be used by multiple generations. Most councils overcome this by accessing long-term debt, spreading the costs over the life of the asset. However, some Councils’ ability to do this is constrained by their debt limits and limited borrowing capacity.

By accessing private capital, councils sidestep this financial constraint and provide the necessary infrastructure their growing communities need.

Is this just a tool for Auckland to use?

No. This model will be scalable and used in other fast-growing centres across New Zealand.

However, as most population growth pressures are concentrated in Auckland, the first SPV being explored will be within in New Zealand’s biggest city. Other Councils will be eligible to apply to set up SPVs provided their projects meet certain criteria.

What are the SPV criteria?

CIP will develop these criteria over the next few months, but at a high level projects must show an ability to generate sufficient revenue to cover their own costs over time, including the cost of capital in most cases. They must also include an exit pathway to allow the Crown to recoup its capital within a reasonable time period. Projects should include a mechanism through which external providers of capital can invest in infrastructure.

What investment opportunities are there in Auckland for CIP?

As part of the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), two proposals were put forward by Auckland Council for an additional investment in roading and water infrastructure so as to accelerate the pace of house building in Auckland. The North project encompasses the Wainui area, and the South project encompasses the areas of Paerata, Pukekohe, Drury West and Drury South.

These projects did not receive HIF funding as they did not meet the specific criteria set by the Government, such as falling within the current 10-year planning period, and they couldn’t be funded from within the Council’s balance sheet using HIF funding. The characteristics of these projects make them highly suitable to fund roading and water infrastructure through and Special Purposes Vehicle (SPV).

Should projects proceed to completion, it is expected that combined they will open up sufficient land for the construction of 23,300 additional houses, taking total housing capacity in these areas to 28,300. The total infrastructure investment being sought is $588 million.

Additional housing enabled

 

NORTH AUCKLAND

How big is the opportunity to the North of Auckland?

New urban areas in the North, including Silverdale, Wainui and Dairy Flat have been identified by Auckland Council as areas where greenfield housing development can be significantly expanded over the next 30 years, provided the necessary infrastructure is in place to support the expansion.

What infrastructure investments are needed in the North?

The North project focuses on Wainui, where the existing infrastructure can only support the construction of 2,000 new houses in the area zoned for residential use in the Auckland Unitary Plan. It is estimated that an infrastructure investment of $201 million ($149 million for transport; $52 million for water) could sufficiently increase infrastructure capacity to service up to another 5,500 houses in Wainui.

What water infrastructure developments would this cover in the North?

The estimated $52 million infrastructure investment in the North would pay for a number of water developments including the:

• New Wainui service reservoir ($15 million)
• New water supply booster pump station ($10 million)
• New Wainui sewer and pump station ($25 million)
• Wainui Storm water ($2 million)

 What transport infrastructure developments would this cover in the North?

The estimated $149 million infrastructure investment in the North would pay for a number of arterial transport developments, including the:

• Wainui Arterial Road ($60 million)
• Curley Ave Bridge ($89 million

SOUTH AUCKLAND

What is the opportunity in the South?

The greatest opportunity to create new urban areas in Auckland is to the South of the city, where around 5,300 hectares of land has been identified for urban development. The areas of Paerata, Pukekohe, Drury West and Drury South offer the greatest opportunity to fast track the supply of housing as they are the most ready to develop.

What infrastructure investments are needed in the South?

Although areas in the South have significant potential to expand greenfield housing capacity in Auckland, only 3,000 additional houses can be supported by the existing water and roading infrastructure.

It is estimated that an infrastructure investment of $387 million ($215 million for transport; $172 million for water) could increase the supply of new houses by 17,800 across Paerata, Pukekohe, Drury West and Drury South.

What water infrastructure developments would this cover in the South?

The estimated $172 million needed for water infrastructure in the South would pay for a number of developments including (but limited to) the:

• New Paerata water main ($30 million)
• New Paerata sewer ($40 million)
• Drury West wastewater reticulation ($20 million)
• Drury South pump station ($25 million)
• Bremner Road sewers ($2 million)
• Bremner Road pump station ($20 million)
• Paerata storm water ($1 million)
• Pukekohe storm water ($26 million)

What transport infrastructure developments would this cover in the South?

The estimated $215 million infrastructure investment in the South would pay for a number of transport developments, including the:

• Rail stations at Paerata and Drury West ($60 million)
• Paerata rail crossing ($20 million)
• Bremner upgrade ($38 million)
• Mill Road, Great South Road/Spine Road ($97 million)

DRURY SOUTH

Why is Drury South being considered for the first SPV?

Drury South is one of the four areas (including Drury West, Paerata and Pukekohe) situated to the South of Auckland that has been identified as having the greatest opportunity to create new urban areas. Out of the four areas it is the most developed and is in near ready-to-go status, having already obtained planning permission, with the design and consenting expected to be complete in 2017. Should major civil works commence in October 2017 it is expected the project will be ready for the first occupants in 2019.

What will be built in Drury South?

The Drury South project being developed by Stevensons Group is an integrated development that will provide for more than 700 houses as well as an 180Ha business and industrial development adjacent to the Stevenson Drury Quarry. The business park will facilitate 15,400 jobs across the Auckland region, 5,000 of which will occur within the business park, which is expected to contribute $2.3 billion to the regional economy every year.

What transport infrastructure is needed in Drury?

To facilitate and accelerate development within the southern sector of the city, Auckland Council and NZTA are investigating the southern section of the Mill Road Corridor, a Primary Arterial Road/Expressway that will link Mill Road in Manukau with Pukekohe.

The Drury South project proposes that a Mill Road Arterial be constructed that will intersect and connect to SH1 within the bounds of the Drury South Development Area and Great South Road in the West. This interconnection via the spine road will provide important network resilience to both the Mill Road Arterial and SH1.

What water infrastructure investment is needed in Drury South?

The project requires new wastewater and freshwater connections. This includes a 4.5km trunk sewer between the project and Hingaia pump station north of Drury, and a new connection to the Waikato water pipeline in Drury. This infrastructure will be designed to integrate with other developments in the area and could service in excess of 10,000 households.

How much will it cost?

Civil works to deliver the land ready for development will total $300 million, of which an estimated $68 million in road and waste infrastructure will be assessed for CIP funding.

The Labour Party’s “fresh approach” in the 2017 election campaign is fast becoming a stale repeat of its 2014 and even its 2011 campaign, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says.

“Already this week they have broken out such hardy triennials as R&D tax credits, their insulation scheme, and their early re-start to contributions to the Super Fund.

“And then today they have released an education policy that is almost in every sense identical to their 2014 one.

“Across their nine headline initiatives, only one is different to 2014, and that was announced eighteen months ago.  And even that wouldn’t fully take effect until 2025,” Mr Joyce says.

“It appears that Labour’s “fresh approach” is largely re-running their 2014 campaign with David Cunliffe’s name twinked out and replaced with Andrew Little.It all amounts to the familiar Labour trifecta of more spending, more debt and higher taxes for hard working Kiwis.

“Given they have had three more years in opposition in the meantime, you’d think they might have time to do some new policy thinking.”

Land use regulation is responsible for up to 56 per cent of the cost of an average house in Auckland according to a new research report quantifying the impact of land use regulations, Finance Minister Steven Joyce says.

“This is a comprehensive report that underlines the importance of the changes central and local government have been making to land use regulations to boost housing supply. Urban planning, council regulations, and our local infrastructure funding system, have all been driving up the cost of housing in our major cities,” Mr Joyce says.

The research report, Quantifying the impact of land use regulations: Evidence from New Zealand was commissioned from the Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (Superu) in 2016 and has been released today.

Superu looked at house prices in seven New Zealand cities (Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown) and apartment prices in Auckland and Wellington between 2012 and 2016.

Findings in the report include:

Land use regulation is hampering the flexibility of housing supply to respond to demand pressures from population growth. Local geography is likely to play a role, but even in New Zealand cities with plenty of flat land, prices are higher than might be expected in a well-functioning market. The report finds land use regulation could be responsible for 15 to 56 per cent of the cost of an average dwelling across a range of New Zealand cities. In Auckland, land use regulation could be responsible for up to 56 per cent or $530,000 of the cost of an average home.

“The results in the report are consistent with the findings of the recently released Productivity Commission report on Better Urban Planning and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity,” Mr Joyce says.

“The construction sector tends to be singled out for raising costs but house prices in many areas are far in excess of construction costs. We must keep a strong focus on land supply so that section prices become much more reasonable.

“The new Auckland Unitary Plan, the latest RMA reforms, the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity, the Crown Building Project, the Housing Infrastructure Fund, SHAs and increasing the availability of Crown land for housing, are all helping to increase land supply for housing. The Government will continue to work hard to ensure councils in rapidly growing urban areas are able to provide enough land for new housing and business development.

“New Zealand’s strong economy and high job growth means more Kiwis are choosing to work and bring up their families here. As our population grows we need to keep investing to support that growth and provide capacity to grow further.”

The report and summary are available here.

The Labour Party's fiscal policy reveals they want to borrow $7.2 billion more than the Government over the next four years while still cancelling tax threshold changes for low and middle income earners, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says.

"It's a classic Labour tax and spend approach, but this is the wrong time to be building up debt. We need to be reducing debt now to be ready for the next rainy day,” Mr Joyce says.

Mr Joyce says Labour's spending choices are also confusing.

"They seem to be spending more and getting less. They are actually proposing to spend less new money on health next year than the Government has added this year. After all their complaints about health spending, that's surprising.

"All they've really done is add up a bunch of additional spending that governments add to the Budget every year to core public services and said, hey here's a lot of money.”

Mr Joyce says some of Labour’s other spending proposals are now looking much less than previously advertised.

"In many cases the rhetoric doesn't match up with the numbers. $200 million a year isn't going to buy much in the way of R&D tax credits, and $265 million a year isn't going to buy three years’ post schools education.

“And the most telling aspect of the whole document is they’ve managed to put out 17 pages without referencing the importance of the economy once, yet no government initiatives are possible without a strong economy. 

"All in all this is a very underwhelming proposal. More debt, higher taxes for low and middle income New Zealanders, and no more spending on health. I don't know how they managed it but they simply seem to be proposing to waste more money and get very little to show for it."

The Labour Party is trying to play catch-up on multi-national tax, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says. 

“The Government announced it will collect an initial $100 million a year in additional multi-national tax in the budget two months ago, and the Labour Party turns up today and announces they plan to collect an additional $200 million a year without any plan as to how to get there,” Mr Joyce says.

“We are currently wrapping up consultation on three separate areas of work to ensure multi-nationals pay their share of tax for their activities in New Zealand.

“These areas cover companies that use artificially high interest payments to shift profits offshore, companies that artificially avoid having a taxable presence in New Zealand, and companies that exploit hybrid mismatches between different countries tax rules.

"These match the recommendations of the OECD working group on multinational tax.  Officials aren’t recommending a diverted profits tax in New Zealand because it is unlikely to be effective.

“On top of that, New Zealand joined the new OECD multi-lateral Convention to prevent base erosion and profit shifting by multi-national companies when Judith Collins signed it in Paris recently.  That updates several thousand tax treaties between OECD countries including New Zealand in just one go.

"It is these practical steps that will make the difference, not writing to companies telling them that you'd like them to pay their share of tax.

“The Government has a detailed plan currently being implemented on multi-national tax avoidance to ensure that all companies operating in New Zealand pay their fair share in tax. Labour are simply playing ‘me too’,” Mr Joyce says

The Government is planning major changes to how IRD pays social support so that people can know better what their entitlements are and be sure of receiving the right amount, Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Judith Collins say.

“The Working for Families system is very complex and has been since it was introduced,” Mr Joyce says. “More than 40 per cent of people receiving Working for Families are underpaid, while a quarter of all people get paid too much and end up owing money to Inland Revenue.”

“The old IRD system wasn’t designed to handle income support payments like Working for Families,” Ms Collins says. “Our new system will allow us to base payments on better information and allow IRD to be much more accurate and adaptable to families’ changing circumstances and incomes.”

The Government has released a new consultation document, Better administration of social policy, which goes through the proposed changes and how they will affect families.

“As well as lifting family incomes, this year’s Budget began the process of simplifying people’s taxes and entitlements so they can easily see what they should be receiving. These proposals are the next step in creating a more straightforward tax and transfer system which responds quickly and simply as people’s circumstances change,” Mr Joyce says. “It will provide a better system for hundreds of thousands of New Zealand families.”

Along with Working for Families changes, the Better administration of social policy consultation document also contains proposals for improving processes for child support and student loans.

“Child support payments will be automatically deducted from the wages or salary of all liable parents, and more comprehensive information about both parents’ incomes taken into account, including income from trusts. And if the receiving parent wishes, Child support payments could be passed on to them as soon as Inland Revenue had processed the payment,” Ms Collins says.

“We’re also proposing that a wider range of employment income would have student loan repayments deducted from New Zealand-based borrowers, reducing the chance of large end-of-year bills.”

Full details of the proposals are in the discussion document Better administration of social policy available at www.makingtaxsimpler.ird.govt.nz. Submissions close on 15 September 2017.

Removing requirements for people on benefits to meet reasonable obligations to other taxpayers would be a very big backward step and unfair to working New Zealanders, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says.

“Our system of income support relies on a set of mutual obligations to people receiving assistance,” Mr Joyce says. “It would be unfair on people providing that assistance through their taxes if those on benefits did not have an obligation to find work, particularly when there is plenty of work available as there is now.”

Mr Joyce was commenting on Green Party policy proposals to lift benefit incomes, lift taxes on people with higher incomes, and remove obligations on people with benefits to look for work.

“The Government’s system of obligations have helped a lot more people get into work and a lot less families are dependent on a benefit than before we started,” Mr Joyce says.

“New Zealand now has the second highest employment rate in the OECD and the lowest level of adult New Zealanders dependent on a benefit and not in work since 1997. The number of sole parents dependent on a benefit and not in work is the lowest since1988. That means far fewer children growing up in benefit-dependent families.”

Mr Joyce also raised questions about where the money would come from for the proposals.

“This is a very expensive list of promises from the Greens and once again there is no hint as to how the cost would be met. The minor parties are writing some very big cheques for this election at the moment and they have no idea how they’d pay for them.”

“The Government’s Family Incomes Package in Budget 2017 is a very fair package that lifts incomes substantially for low income families with children in some cases by up to$170 or $180 a week. But it comes with obligations on people to look for work and get into work if they can. That’s only fair for everyone.”

The Housing Infrastructure Fund will provide $300 million of infrastructure funding to Auckland Council for another 10,500 new houses across two major new subdivisions in Auckland, Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Building and Construction Minister Dr Nick Smith say.

“This investment will fast-track the construction of large housing developments at Whenuapai and Redhills by increasing capacity of the water and transport networks in the area,” Mr Joyce says.

“The infrastructure funding will pay for five roading projects including a new bridge crossing to the West Harbour ferry terminal, three waste water projects and two stormwater projects.”

“More than 2,000 houses will be delivered in the first five years, with another 8,500 to be delivered in the following five years,” Dr Smith says.

“These projects have been made possible by the Auckland Unitary Plan and the billion dollar commitment from central government to assist fast-growing councils to lift housing supply.”

The Auckland HIF allocations join others around the country to enable an additional 60,000 houses to be built across New Zealand. 

They will add to the current Auckland housing supply growth rate of 10,400 houses a year, and the Government’s Crown Building Project which is building 34,000 new houses in Auckland over the next ten years.

“Auckland has additional housing infrastructure projects it is seeking help with outside of the Housing Infrastructure Fund as it doesn’t have further debt capacity on its balance sheet,” Mr Joyce says. “Discussion on those options are continuing and the Government will have further to say on those matters in the weeks ahead.”

The Auckland Council will now work through Detailed Business Cases for the HIF projects alongside government agencies, with the first funding agreement from the Housing Infrastructure Fund expected to be signed in the coming months.