New housing rules create dilemmas

Building denser housing is a divisive issue. The new Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS)  legislation permits developers to build three, three-storey townhouses in existing urban areas without resource consent, while the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), which runs alongside the MDRS, allows for apartments of six storeys, even on small suburban sites, within 20 minute walkable distances of city and metropolitan centres and rapid transit stops.

The new Labour/National bipartisan rules remove overly restrictive barriers to development as well as increasing the number of residential units on brownfield and greenfield development sites and frees developers from car parking requirements.

However, the jury is out on what impact the cost, infrastructure and demand will be.

Already most of the Tier 1 councils - Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch - have rejected some or all of the rules and have been accused of exploiting the MDRS’s qualifying matters clause to avoid intensification.