Urban Development News from the media | 8 April 2025 | Super-sized granny flats coming to backyards

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Hi *|FNAME|*, Please find below Urban Development News from the media from the week of 8 April 2025.

Provided by Rockhopper Development Management & Property Advisory, a member of:                             
  
                

Super-sized granny flats coming to backyards


The Coalition Government will go even further than it earlier proposed to make it easier to build granny flats by increasing the maximum size allowed to be built without consents, say RMA Reform and Housing Minister Chris Bishop, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. 

“It’s currently far too hard to build the homes New Zealanders need, with even the simplest dwellings tangling up homeowners and builders in red tape. That’s a big part of the reason why we’re replacing the Resource Management Act (RMA) with new laws based on property rights,” Mr Bishop says. 

“At present, people who want to build a simple standalone dwelling on their properties need a building consent under the Building Act. In many cases, a resource consent under the Resource Management Act is required as well. These processes are complicated, time-consuming, and costly. 

“Last year the Government consulted on allowing granny flats of up to 60 sq m to be built without building or resource consents. The proposal received huge support, and as a result the Government has agreed to go even further by increasing the maximum size to 70 sq m,” Mr Bishop says. 

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/super-sized-granny-flats-coming-backyards

Rotorua retirement village approved under fast-track consent

A Rotorua retirement village - complete with bar, cafe and theatre - has been green lit under the Covid-19 Recovery Fast Track Consenting act.

Summerset Group, for its first foray into Rotorua, is allowed a maximum 260-units, 20 assisted living suites, 20 hospital-level care beds and 30 care suites.

The Fairy Springs village will be based on a 14.2-hectare section of land where the Rotorua Heritage Farm and 3D Trick Art Gallery operate.

It applied for resource consent under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 in December 2023.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/545046/rotorua-retirement-village-approved-under-fast-track-consent

Auckland monthly housing update, March 2025

March highlights:

  • 867 dwellings were consented in January 2025.
  • In the year ending January 2025, 13,921 dwellings were consented in the region.
  • 37 per cent of new dwellings consented in January 2025 were houses, 3 per cent were apartments and 60 per cent were townhouses, flats, units, retirement village units, or other types of attached dwellings.
  • 10 dwellings were consented on Kāinga Ora or Tāmaki Regeneration Company owned land in January 2025.
  • 827 dwellings consented in January 2025 were inside the RUB. Over the past 12 months, 95 per cent of new dwellings consented were inside the RUB.
  • 21 per cent of dwellings consented were inside the 1500m walking catchments of the rapid transit network in January 2025.
  • 143 dwellings were consented on properties overlapping hazard zones in January 2025, accounting for 16 per cent of total dwellings consented. Over the past 12 months, 15 per cent of new dwellings were consented on properties overlapping a hazard zone.
  • 1291 dwellings were ‘completed’ by having a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) issued in January 2025.

https://www.knowledgeauckland.org.nz/publications/auckland-monthly-housing-update-march-2025/

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