National rubbished the policy at the time, with Prime Minister John Key commenting "It will either fail miserably, deliver dwellings that people don't want to live in, or require massive taxpayer subsidies."
The MBIE report not only spelled out the opportunities, but also provided a draft proposal for progressing down that path -- however, this information was withheld from the final report which was delivered post-election to the returning National-led Government.
Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford says the only realistic solution to improving issues with supply remains for the Government to roll up its sleeves and utilise economies of scale to the country's advantage.
"The problems in the Auckland housing market are so intractable that only a government-backed building programme like KiwiBuild can break through and deliver the houses which can make a dent in the shortfall of supply."
Supply issues in Auckland find their roots in the Global Financial Crisis -- when the number of new dwellings being built dropped well below historic levels while demand levels remained steady throughout. In the aftermath of the GFC, demand was bolstered by increases to New Zealand's inwards migration -- almost half of new immigrants settle in Auckland.
The net effect is a continuing drop in cumulative supply, which from 2008 onwards has resulted in a growing deficit and surging house prices. In August of this year, the median house price in Auckland reached $614,050 -- and while the growth rate is slowing -- the price has continued to soar.
Minister of Building and Housing, Nick Smith however remains confident the Government is progressing in the right direction.
"House price inflation in Auckland has slowed from 14.8 per cent to 7.9 per cent over the past year. Our goal is to rapidly increase supply and to contain ongoing house price increases across the city," Smith said.
"Building activity is at the highest level since 2006 and $20 billion of residential building work is projected over the next three years."
Despite the improvements, building levels remained well below the targets set out in the Auckland Plan, with MBIE reporting a shortfall of 30 per cent between projected and actual levels.
With a starting shortfall of 18,000 dwellings and Statistics NZ projecting Auckland to require an additional 10,000 new homes for each of the next five years -- Twyford says the Government's plans will fail to have an impact.
"Even if the Government's projections come to fruition -- which I regard as supremely optimistic, quite heroic even -- it still will not put a dent in that 18,000 shortfall. That's why officials are continuing to predict that house prices in Auckland will keep on rising and that's a real problem.
"We're just not building enough."
It's clear that any solution to solving the housing crisis in Auckland will require a multi-pronged approach from a number of players -- a challenge which Minister of Local Government, Paula Bennett is confident in the Government's ability to tackle.
"There are multiple pressures and levers that all need to be pulled in unison for us to get ahead of the game in Auckland. I think the pipeline looks encouraging, you just need to look at a 31 per cent increase in building consents and the special housing areas," she said.
"I'm really excited about what's already in the pipeline and some of the initiatives which the Government have up their sleeve which will progress in the New Year."
Bennett says that rather than Government searching for a silver bullet solution, it was about making smart decisions to push the market in the right direction.
"Look at where we are as Housing New Zealand, we own 32,000 houses in Auckland which makes us 7 per cent of the market. We're the biggest player in the market and we can be much smarter with the land that we own to create more houses. Some of those can be affordable homes, others can be social houses and some for profit so we can pay for that."
