Auckland’s new regulations have affected 12,000 properties, and four major seaside luxury residential areas in the East and North Shores have been restricted from developing!

New Zealand Chinese Pioneer Network Ju’an Comprehensive Report Some of Auckland’s most expensive waterfront communities will face stricter development restrictions. As coastal erosion risks rise, the city council announced that several waterfront residential areas will be “downregulated”, limiting future construction and expansion projects.

City Council senior manager Phil Reid said the worst affected wereKohimarama, Mission Bay and St Heliers in the East Side, and Browns Bay on the North Shore。

The change is part of the city council’s long-term housing development plan. The core goal of the plan is to build 2 million new housing units in the next few decades, but it also introduces stricter natural disaster prevention and control measures, covering areas with risk of floods and coastal erosion.

Auckland has about 12,000 properties listed as high risk, of which 2,000 are located in floodplain and 10,000 are at risk of coastal erosion. These properties will be downgraded, meaning new developments will be more difficult to approve or even be completely banned.

While the new regulations may limit land use, Reid said this may not necessarily have a significant impact on the value of beachfront properties. He pointed out that residents can still live normally, but there will be more restrictions when carrying out land development.

Many properties will be downgraded from “mixed housing urban zoning” to “single-family residential zoning”. Taking Remuera as an example, he explained that although the zoning in the area has changed, housing prices have not fluctuated significantly. Partitioning is only one of the many factors that affect valuation, not the decisive factor.

Desley Simpson, deputy mayor of Auckland and Ōrākei constituency, said the changes were long under the plan, but were not implemented until now due to legal restrictions. “The community residents have expressed concerns about me many times and they have seen some areas that are often flooded and are continuing to develop. These new regulations are to avoid similar situations,” she said.

Under the new rules, anyone planning to build a house in a flood or erosion risk area must first complete a risk assessment. The evaluation results are divided into “significant risks”, “or tolerant risks” and “acceptable risks”.

Reid said the goal is to allow applicants to actively adjust their designs before submitting a resource permit to reduce risks. For example, if an owner intends to expand on a large scale in a flooded area and the risk assessment is identified as a “significant risk” and the owner is unwilling to modify the design, the project will be considered a non-compliant activity and is likely to be rejected.

He said the new approval process is mainly aimed at “the most serious 12,000 high-risk properties.” However, the city council believes that most properties in non-core high-risk areas can reduce risks to acceptable levels by reasonable design adjustments. The ultimate goal is to increase community resilience and reduce disaster risk exposure.

Lyall Carter, chairman of the West Auckland is Flooding (WAIF), founded after the 2023 flood, stressed that the city council must communicate in depth with residents before implementing the new regulations.

“The last thing I want to see is that the value of the property owners is hit hard by the lack of proper consultation or clear communication. People should have the opportunity to speak out, and also ensure public safety,” he said.

Carter notes that these changes affect thousands of residents living in floodplain, and online updates or letter notifications are far from enough. “Real, in-depth community communication has to be done. There are a lot of potential issues here, and the last thing residents want is to be suddenly informed without preparation. The city council needs to really listen to affected homeowners.”

Simpson said residents will have the opportunity to comment on the new regulations in the future.

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