Special housing areas announced

Consent applications in those areas will be able to be considered by the council under the fast-tracked mechanisms in the legislation, which require approvals within six months for greenfields developments, compared to the average three years.

There is just three months allowed for approvals on brownfield developments, compared to the current one year.

The areas announced today, in Papapkura, East Tamaki, Pukekohe, Hobsonville, Huapai, West Harbour, Orakei and Pukekohe, will provide 6000 new sections.

A Weymouth project had already been announced.

All developments will be required to have some affordable houses – from 100% in Weymouth to a smaller proportion in other developments. Some will have less than 10%, which critics have said is not very different to the proportion of affordable housing already being built.

Housing Minister Nick Smith said the projects represented the "start of getting real momentum into Auckland's residential construction'' market.

"Alongside freeing up land supply, we need to constrain the impact of development contributions on section prices, get better value for building materials, make efficiency improvements in building consents, and improve productivity in the construction industry.”