Just how many homes are on the way is an eye-opener. The 2013 Auckland Housing Accord fast-tracked development of new homes. So far 84 AHAs have been established with a potential of 40,000 new homes by next year.
Auckland Council's Unitary Plan, which then comes into force, allows for 280,000 to be built through intensification of urban Auckland and 160,000 new homes in rural areas over the next 30 years.
The biggest greenfield developments on the blocks are Pokeno Village Estates, at 1500 sections when completed in a bit over a decade.
Millwater at Silverdale has 3000 sections and is due for completion around 2019. Long Bay is 2500 sections with an expected 2020 completion date.
Other medium-size developments on the go or planned include Massey, New Lynn, Northern Tamaki, Hingaia in Karaka, Pukekohe and Papakura.
At the larger developments, homes are rising fast. As sections are released they sell quickly in the current market. About half of the latest tranche at Millwater went to spec buildings and show home companies, a spokesman said.
But many are outside of the price range of first-home buyers, says Harcourts chief executive Hayden Duncan. Council and central government red tape makes it unattractive for big overseas and local developers to build more homes, Duncan says.
One trend in the new home market Harcourts has noticed is the resurgence of the infill housing market. That in part accounts for the large numbers of sections for sale through real estate agents.
Speculators and investors are buying quarter-acre sections to subdivide, although the resulting homes aren't necessarily affordable.
Prices continue to rise and new sections and houses are snapped up as they're released.
Another big trend in Auckland is brownfield development as industry moves to the outskirts of the city. One of the better known developments is Stonefields, Mt Wellington, where 140 apartments are yet to be built.
Auckland-wide, 2500 new apartments are coming onto the market over the next two years, according to Bayleys Research.
The biggest new apartment development is the 801-dwelling Rose Gardens in Albany, followed by 285 apartments at nearby Library Lane. The biggest development in downtown Auckland is the 273-unit Queens Residences in Wakefield St.
Bayleys is also tracking the trend of dated city-fringe office blocks being converted into residential units. Unloved office blocks such as the former Baycorp HQ in Hopetoun St have risen again as luxury living. In many cases balconies are built in the existing footprint of the building or on the outside.
Just across the road from Baycorp's former HQ is the former Telecom headquarters, which is being converted into an 18-level complex of 119 freehold apartments in the building, ranging in price from $390,000 to $5 million plus for the penthouse.
Other commercial buildings being converted into accommodation include the Summit on Symonds apartment development on the corner of Symonds St and K Rd, the Nicholas Street Apartments, and the old Victoria Park markets carpark.
Bayleys Research manager Ian Little said multiple drivers are behind the conversion trend.
The most notable, says Little, is the high vacancy rates within secondary grade office blocks as new commercial precincts crop up in locations such as the city's Victoria Park quarter, the Wynyard quarter through to Fanshawe St and downtown.
