Land prices and infrastructure development: Are there ways we can better plan for an uncertain future?
Two new research papers from Te Waihanga, the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, highlight the link between land prices and infrastructure, and the need to earmark land for future infrastructure.
The first report, Urban land prices – a progress report, examines trends in urban land values between 2010/11 and 2020/21. Between 2010 and 2021, the difference between urban and rural land prices roughly doubled in nearly every large New Zealand city – Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Queenstown. The report finds that infrastructure and planning costs are factors in these increases. The exception is Christchurch, where land has remained more affordable most likely due to changes to housing development and infrastructure following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.
The second report, Protecting land for infrastructure: How to make good decisions when we aren’t certain about the future, examines how we can manage the impact of rising land prices on infrastructure project delivery. It finds that designation or acquiring land for infrastructure in advance can make it cheaper and easier to build the infrastructure we need, from neighbourhood schools to major public transport routes.