Shortage gets worse
BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander says Auckland's housing shortage is getting worse. Last week he wrote that Auckland's population grew near 3 per cent last year compared with 1.4 per cent for the rest of the country.
He says: "This is largely because Auckland gains over 60 per cent of the country's net migration inflow which in the year to February was 67,400 people."
Alexander says that translates into an extra 40,000-plus people in Auckland, and with an average household occupancy rate of three people per house, Auckland needed at least 15,000 houses to be built last year.
However, just 9300 consents for new houses and apartments were issued (many for retirement units with one or two people) and of those, only about 7400 consents added to the housing stock.
"Some houses replace those which have been demolished," he says. "And some consents do not get acted on. Therefore, Auckland last year needed some 19,000 consents to be issued to stop the shortage worsening. Consent issuance is less than half the level required."
Check before you buy
Independent expert advice is essential when buying property, says Harcourts' CEO Chris Kennedy.
He says accepting a vendor supplied report is a good starting point, but that home buyers should carry out their own due diligence, get an independent building inspection, request LIM reports and title checks.
"That way they [buyers] know the source of the information, as well as the credentials and loyalties of the person who has supplied it," he says. "There's no advantage in winning an auction if you end up with problems."
