Council backs greater housing density near transport links, unlocking capacity for up to 1.7 million homes
Auckland Council has voted 17-5 in favour of a more intensive upzoning option under Plan Change 120, locking in the council's position for the year ahead on the government's housing intensification directive, 1News reported.
More density near transport links
The approved plan would leave most of the region's existing zoning untouched, aside from downzoning in areas at risk of natural hazards or flooding. Instead, greater density will be concentrated around suburbs with strong transport access, including six-storey development along bus corridors such as Dominion Road, Sandringham Road, Great North Road, and Onewa Road. Ten- to fifteen-storey development would be enabled around metropolitan centres and train stations, including Ōrākei, Remuera, and Glen Innes.
Mayor Wayne Brown described the outcome as a middle path between competing views on council.
"The option we've gone with is a compromise between those who wanted us to do less and those, like me, who wanted us to do more," Brown said. "85% of properties won't be affected, but we are going to get intensification where we've sunk billions of dollars into better public transport and where it makes sense."
The changes respond to legislation cutting Auckland's minimum housing capacity requirement from around two million homes to 1.4 million. The current Unitary Plan provides theoretical capacity for roughly 1.2 million homes, while the newly approved changes are estimated to lift that to between 1.5 and 1.7 million.
Ahead of the vote, council chief economist Gary Blick estimated the adopted option could mean 13% fewer new homes over the next decade than the original two-million-home target, with prices projected 3-5% lower than under current zoning — a smaller impact than the 5-8% modelled under the fuller option.
Not everyone on board
Two amendments seeking a more cautious approach were defeated before the final vote.
Waitematā councillor Mike Lee's proposal to pause the process and wait for incoming resource management legislation lost 15 to seven, while councillor John Gillon's push for council to adopt only the bare legal minimum lost 16 to seven.
Not all councillors saw the plan as an improvement on the status quo. Albany councillor John Watson argued upzoning's effect on affordability is often overstated.
"Upzoning can increase housing supply, but that's generally over the medium-to-long term, but the magnitude of that really varies quite significantly depending on local conditions, and studies have shown that the effect on prices is often modest," Watson said, adding that loans and other schemes for first-home buyers would do more to improve affordability.
An independent hearings panel will now consider submissions from a further round of public engagement before the council makes final decisions on Plan Change 120, expected in mid-2027.
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