The Labour Government and National's bipartisan Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) have de-fanged planning laws and allowed residential owners in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch to build three townhouses, up to three storeys each, on 50 per cent of their land without costly and frustrating resource consent.
But denser housing is a multifaceted issue. Legislation permits developers to build more townhouses in existing urban areas, while the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), which runs alongside the MDRS, allows for apartments of six storeys, even on small suburban sites, within a 20-minute walking distance of city and metropolitan centres and rapid transit stops.
The new rules remove overly restrictive barriers to development as well as increasing the number of residential units on brownfield and greenfield development sites. It also frees developers from car-parking requirements.
However, the jury is out on what impact the cost, infrastructure and demand will have. People in the industry admit they don't know what the future of the MDRS, dubbed the “townhouse bill”, will be.
Already, several councils have rejected some or all of the rules and have been accused of exploiting the MDRS's qualifying matters clause to avoid
