Building consents issued in Auckland have hit a ten-year high, but experts say construction bottlenecks are likely to prevent them having any real impact on the city's housing crisis.
Statistics New Zealand says almost 10,000 consents were issued for Auckland in 2016. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Statistics New Zealand said almost 10,000 consents were issued for Auckland in 2016 - up 7 percent on 2015 - despite a small decline in the rate towards the end of the year.
But that figure means nothing if the pieces of paper can't be turned into bricks and mortar.
Housing strategist Leonie Freeman said that was unlikely to happen for all of the consents, partly because of shortages in trades people, construction companies and developers.
A long-term strategy was needed to fill the gaps, otherwise the problem would get worse as Auckland's population grew, she said.
Auckland builder Charlie Bailey said he was booked solid for 18 months - something that had never happened before in his career.
He said builders across the city were in hot demand, with many people who want to build or renovate forced to wait.
"Our latest one was someone who paid us a deposit just to secure us, they haven't even got plans drawn," Mr Bailey said.
The demand had also hit subcontractors, who were so busy they could no longer be booked at short notice for vital jobs, like concreting or earthworks, he said.
Another builder who was experiencing similar wait times told RNZ the work-to-labour ratio was almost at saturation point, and he could take on more work if he had more staff.
Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation chief executive Warwick Quinn said the latest figures looked good but the market was just playing catch up from the global financial crisis when the number of houses built fell dramatically.
Even if all the consented homes were built, they would not match the 13,000 the Auckland Council said is needed each year, he said.
"It is still well below what it needs to be and still well below what was being built in 2003 and 2004 which was up around 11,000 or 12,000, so Auckland is struggling," he said.
Hard figures on completed homes are not easily available but last year, the council told RNZ it estimated about 6500 were finished in the year to August .
The Auckland Council said it needed time to analyse the latest figures before making a comment.