Despite immigration pullback, NZ housing shortage worsens

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By Leith van Onselen

New Zealand’s chronic housing shortage continues to worsen, especially in Auckland, despite dwelling consents continuing to rise, according to Statistics New Zealand.

There were 11,192 dwelling consents issued across Auckland in the year to March (up 9.7%), and 31,392 consents issued across New Zealand over the year (up 2.5%):

Despite the pick-up, none of this is enough to offset New Zealand’s rampant immigration-fuelled population growth, whereby 68,600 net migrants have landed over the past year driving a 95,000 increase in New Zealand’s population, with Auckland’s population increasing by around 43,000:

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Clearly, New Zealand’s (particularly Auckland’s) already chronic housing shortage continues to worsen by the month.

The recently elected Labour-led coalition government needs to follow through with its promise to slash immigration and boost housing supply if it’s to turn this mess around.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.