Property expert: Resource consent delays hurting development

Property expert: Resource consent delays hurting development

An expert in property investment says Auckland Council should urgently speed up its resource consenting process to give the city the homes it desperately needs.

It comes after affordable home development Springpark went into receivership, with slow resource consenting believed to be a contributing factor.

With demand for Auckland housing at an all-time high, even one major development going into receivership isn't good news for anyone.

So could Springpark's future have been brighter if the paperwork were processed faster?

"I think the length of time has been pretty huge in terms of the amount of time to get all the professional reports in, and indeed for council to process these. So, it is a factor," says property investment expert David Whitburn.

Springpark was imagined as a bustling neighbourhood with hundreds of homes.

Tristan Lomberg should be one of those home's owners. He's been waiting for more than two years.

"There's just been delay after delay. It took them 18 months to get their resource consent, and then we signed on, so we thought the delays were over. But they were only just beginning."

Mr Whitburn says the impact slow processing can have on new housing projects is significant.

"It means a lot more holding costs, and a lot more risk that gets introduced and brought into the project. Unfortunately time is an enemy for developers."

While Auckland Council wouldn't elaborate on the time taken to process the consent, it did say it worked closely with the developer.

Late this afternoon Springpark developer Tony Gapes told 3 News consent delays were a big issue, but the project was also bogged down by the costs of site decontamination and geo-technical reports.

Those costs have affected stage one of the more than 400-home project. The good news is stages two and three are looking safer, having been sold to other developers earlier this year.

3 News