Record Auckland CBD apartments rising

A record 1216 new apartments worth more than $600 million will be completed this year in Auckland's central business district - the highest this decade, research shows.

Zoltan Moricz, senior director and head of research at real estate agents and consultants CBRE New Zealand, said 343 new units had already been completed this year in the heart of the city, not counting suburban projects.

A further 873 CBD units were under construction and due to be finished this year, Moricz said. That gives a total 1216 new units, his data showed.

In 2012 and 2014, not a single apartment was completed in Auckland.

Yet last year, the number jumped to 794 new units finished across a number of new city blocks.

Moricz said although current numbers were high, he was confident there would not be an oversupply which could leave new units unsold.

"I don't think we're heading towards a glut and you'll see that from the charts. Compared to what was going on around 2004-2006, the number of units is less and yet the population growth has never been higher.

"The market itself is regulating the supply situation due to circumstances like construction costs and financing, so there's a natural balancing," he said.

Andrew Murray, the director of real estate agents Apartment Specialists, said despite the high numbers to be completed this year, Auckland would still have an undersupply of CBD units.

"That will be felt acutely in the rental market, tenants will still be queuing to get a place and rents will be rising," he predicted.

"The banks are being very strict on lending to the apartment sector. Those apartments being built now have all been approved some time ago."

Moricz said some of the larger Auckland CBD projects, of 100-units plus, now nearing completion included:

• Sugartree between Nelson St and Union St, by Lily Nelson Union Joint Venture, stage two almost finished, stage three under construction, 690 units.

• Conrad Properties is due to finish about 750 units this year at Park Residences on Albert St/Swanson St, Queens Square on the Real Groovy site, Victoria Residences at Federal St/Victoria St opposite SkyCity and Union & Co on Union Street.

• Willis Bond has two buildings in Wynyard Quarter under construction with about 164 units.

• Grace on Sale Street, by local business Location Group and Little Projects of Australia, under construction, 105 units.

• Union Green by Myland Partners, 79 apartments and a similar number of terraced houses, under construction.

• The Antipodean on Beach Road, 161 units, under construction.

[Source: Zoltan Moricz, CBRE]