Master Builders welcomes Government initiatives on housing
08 October 2024
Tēnā koutou,
Recently, the Government has made several announcements with significant impacts on the building and construction sector, in particular housing:
- Building consent reforms
- Residential development underwriting
- Fast Track Approvals Bill projects
Building consent reform
Master Builders strongly supports the Government’s announcements to reform the current Building Consent Authority (BCA) structure and progress remote consenting.
The proposed reforms aim to streamline and standardise consenting processes, reducing inefficiencies and addressing long-standing issues within New Zealand’s building sector.
In the lead-up to the general election, we called for urgent reforms to the consenting process. We have consistently advocated for a centralised, nationally aligned consenting system that reduces unnecessary red tape and streamlines approvals.
“A more consistent and streamlined consenting system is critical to addressing New Zealand’s housing supply challenges. The current process is a bottleneck, contributing to the country’s housing affordability issues,” says Master Builders Chief Executive Officer Ankit Sharma.
“As technology, materials, and information continue to evolve, it is crucial that our consenting processes also evolve to remain fit for purpose. This reform will help create a more efficient, predictable, and effective system that benefits builders, developers, and, ultimately, all New Zealanders.
Our media statement on building consent reform (Master Builders)
Government media statement on reforming the building consent system (Beehive)
Government media statement on remote building inspections (Beehive)
Residential development underwriting
We are encouraged by the Government’s new time-limited underwriting scheme for residential housing developments as a critical step towards restoring confidence in the sector, de-risking developments, and ensuring developers can overcome finance hurdles and forge on with much-needed new builds.
“Access to finance remains one of the most prominent challenges for the building and construction sector, with 83 percent of our members citing it as their top challenge in the 2024 State of the Sector survey,” says Master Builders Chief Executive Ankit Sharma.
“By focusing on larger developments with proven developers and the required consents, we expect this scheme will go some way towards speeding up key projects and improving affordable housing supply especially in high population areas like Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch.”
Our media statement on the State of the Sector (Master Builders)
Government media statement on residential development underwriting (Beehive)
Residential Development Underwrite Application (MHUD)
Fast Track Approvals Bill projects
We welcome the Government’s announcement of the projects selected for the Fast Track Approvals Bill, which includes 44 housing developments that may enable up to 55,000 new homes to be be consented.
“All options to help solve New Zealand’s housing supply issues are worth looking at, and the projects identified will help meet demand in some of the highest growth parts of the country,” says Master Builders Chief Executive Officer Ankit Sharma.
Government media statement on fast-track projects released (Beehive)
Ngā mihi,
Registered Master Builders Association