500th home at Hobsonville completed

The Government today marked the 500th completed home at Hobsonville Point and the launch of a new precinct at the Auckland housing development with a visit by the Prime Minister and Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith. "Hobsonville Point is New Zealand’s largest residential development and is at the forefront of building new supply, more intensive housing and integrated communities. It epitomises the scale and momentum the Government wants to achieve. There are 524 homes completed and another 389 under construction. This number is exceeded by the 920 sold, indicating the strong demand and sales being made off the plans," Dr Smith says. "Today’s announcement by Hobsonville Land Company to partner with AVJennings to develop 540 new dwellings at the Buckley B precinct will accelerate this growing supply of new homes. Hobsonville Land Company decided in June with the Government’s approval to bring forward the development of these homes in response to strong demand. These homes would not have been available until 2019 under the previous schedule, but will now come on-stream from 2017 - providing new homes faster to help address Auckland’s housing need. It is an added bonus that 30 per cent of the houses in this precinct will be priced at under $550,000 - a higher proportion of affordable houses than the 20 per cent already provided for at the development." Hobsonville is former Defence Force land that is being developed by Hobsonville Land Company, a Housing New Zealand subsidiary. The first sod for housing at the site was turned in 2002 by the then-Prime Minister but no further work was done, as the project became mired in planning disputes. The National-led Government revived a housing plan for the land in 2010. The land was given Special Housing Area status under the new Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act, and earthworks were consented a week later. The Hobsonville Point development also includes parks, playgrounds, cycleways, walking tracks, a farmers market and new schools. In 2013 the Mayor of Auckland and the Prime Minister opened the new ferry terminal and service to downtown Auckland. "Development at Hobsonville Point is advancing at an unprecedented scale in New Zealand. There are around 350 houses now coming onto the market each year and the community already has a population of 1300. There is a new primary school and secondary school, as well as a medical centre, restaurants and new shops. "Hobsonville is one of many initiatives by the Government to address Auckland’s housing challenge. Yesterday I released the latest figures showing uptake for our KiwiSaver HomeStart scheme had doubled since the last quarter, with 4261 grants approved for first home buyers. We are also continuing to free up more land under the Auckland Housing Accord, with the eighth tranche of Special Housing Areas also announced yesterday bringing the total potential yield of new homes for the city to more than 48,000. "The next steps in our programme are advancing new housing on Crown-owned land in Auckland, consulting on a new Urban Development National Policy Statement, and reform of the Resource Management Act."