Corrin Dan interviews Bill English

Bill English comments “Well we’re doing as much as we feasibly can right now, and that is working with the Auckland City Council particularly over its new plan, which is going to reset the rules for Auckland. The new action we’re taking is to crank up the government supply. So we’ve got government-owned land. Those transactions are getting underway. But over the next 12 months, the government will be procuring the capacity to develop thousands of houses, and that’s a process we’re just getting started on, because there’s a lot more to do in Auckland.”

CORIN But you know that even if you bring on thousands more houses, you’ve got net migration running at 60,000-plus; you’re not going to be able to keep up.

BILL We will eventually catch up. Consents at the moment are the highest they’ve been in 10 years, and they are continuing to rise. So the rate of build is as high as it’s been for a long time, and it’s rising, and as the government comes in the market, it’ll rise further.

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