Housing affordability

Improving housing affordability

In collaboration with other government and housing sector agencies, HUD aims to deliver a comprehensive work programme to improve housing affordability.

Our work spans:

• the supply of land
• the role of regulation
• the provision of infrastructure
• the cost of building materials; and
• increasing skills and the level of innovation in the construction sector.

Measuring housing affordability

There are different ways we work to understand how affordable a home is. We have some measures that help us understand where renters are facing affordability barriers in terms of renting, or when considering whether or not they can afford to buy a home.

Housing Affordability Measure

Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas

The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas legislation enabled the streamlining of new housing developments by allowing special housing areas to be designated under accords between the Government and Council.

The Act has been repealed

The Government decided not to extend the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas legislation. Sections 16 and 17 of the Act were repealed on 16 September 2019, disestablishing all existing special housing areas and removing the power to establish new ones. The legislation expired in full on 16 September 2021, terminating the Accords. Any streamlined consent applications for special housing areas still ongoing at this date were transferred over to the standard process under the Resource Management Act 1991 for completion.

Further information is held by Accord Councils

11 Councils across New Zealand entered Housing Accords and established special housing areas:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Tauranga
• Western Bay of Plenty
• Rotorua
• Wellington
• Nelson
• Tasman
• Selwyn
• Christchurch
• Queenstown-Lakes

Further information on specific accords and the special housing areas they enabled is held by the associated Accord Council.