What is National’s new policy?
The media focussed on National's desire to get rid of the 3x3 townhouse rule.
But that’s not the important part. The real change is they want to force councils to open up land for development. Lots of land. ‘30 years’ worth of land.
So, under the policy, councils must look at how fast their populations will grow over the next 3 decades.
Then they have to make enough land available to house that population growth. The clincher? They have to make that land available right away.
30 years of land, available now.
It's then up to the council to decide how that gets done.
So a city like Auckland could say: "We want more density". And let builders put up lots of multi-storey townhouses.
A smaller city like Palmerston North could say: "We don't want that." They could let people build lots of standalone houses instead.
That could be good news for developers and some property investors.
But, some investors will raise their eyebrows at the "30 years of land" part.
They might think: "Holy heck, does that mean house prices won't go up any more?"
That's where Christchurch provides a good case study.