High-density housing

Due to a combination of policy, demographic, and economic factors, New Zealand cities have seen a rapid growth in high-density housing.

These are multi-unit homes instead of the stand-alone houses which were far more common for previous generations of New Zealanders.

Both the shift to more high-density housing and the way this high-density housing is designed and built will impact people in New Zealand cities.

According to Stats NZ

“There were 26,823 multi-unit homes consented in the year ended June 2022, up 36 percent compared with the year ended June 2021. Over the same period 23,913 stand-alone houses were consented (down 3 percent). Multi-unit homes include townhouses, apartments, retirement village units, and flats…

For stand-alone houses only, the trend has decreased 21 percent since June 2021.

Home consents have remained near historically high levels, with a decrease in stand-alone houses being largely offset by high levels of consenting activity for multi-unit homes”

According to Stats NZ, most of the multi-unit homes consented in 2019 were to be built in Auckland, Waikato, and Canterbury, though numbers are growing in other regions.

Since 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has been “Enabling housing density”

“Boosting urban density is critical to addressing the housing shortage in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (the Act) requires councils in our largest urban areas to increase housing supply and allow a wider variety of homes to be built…

…New Zealand has a shortage of affordable housing. A key driver of this shortage is restrictive planning rules which limit the heights and density of housing in residential areas.

The Act will remove these restrictive rules, so we can expect to see more medium density homes being built across more of our major cities. This will mean more homes are built in areas that have access to jobs, public transport and other public amenities and community facilities…

… The Act requires territorial authorities in the greater urban areas of Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and the Rotorua Lakes district to apply medium density residential standards. Other councils in areas experiencing acute housing shortages may also be required to include the standards in their plans.

The standards mean that up to three dwellings of up to three storeys can be developed on each site without needing to apply for a resource consent, as long as all other rules and standards have been met. ” TE TŪĀPAPA KURA KĀINGA - MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

(Note that government will often use the term "medium density" when many New Zealanders would regard this as "high density" for our suburban areas)

[Last updated 23/11/2023]