The 2022 Wellington Regional Housing and Business Capacity Assessment Update (HBA) has been completed by the six councils of Wellington’s major urban areas: Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council, Kāpiti Coast District Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Hutt City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council, taking a 30-year look from 2021-2051 at demand for housing, compared against land that is available or identified for future growth. The HBA also analyses capacity for the necessary infrastructure to support this growth, such as three waters (drinking, storm and waste) and transport.

The HBA is a requirement of the National Policy Statement for Urban Development Capacity 2020.

Overall finding
The 2022 HBA shows that across the region almost 104,000 houses will be required by 2051 to meet demand. Based on current district plans, there will be a shortfall across the region of more than 25,000 dwellings.

This work provides Council and community have a good understanding of housing trends and demands.

HBAs are updated every three years to support well-informed and timely planning decisions, which ultimately seek to achieve competitive markets and improved housing affordability.

The Wellington Regional HBA includes a Regional Summary Chapter and separate Chapters for each Council area. Appendices include further details on methodologies, reports and modelling undertaken or commissioned for the HBA.

The 2022 HBA builds on the baseline data provided by the first HBA in 2019, and is designed to provide local authorities with a robust evidence base to inform district plans, decisions, and related strategies, as well as to provide specific reports to inform the community.

2022 HBA Report – Complete Document

Housing and Business Capacity Assessment Complete Document [PDF 44MB]

Regional Summary Report

Individual Council Chapters with appendices

While district plans have not yet implemented the NPS-UD, councils are well advanced in preparing either plan changes, variations or full district plan reviews to enable the intensification required by the NPS-UD. This will increase plan-enabled infill and redevelopment capacity, but will need to be accompanied by the necessary infrastructure investment (particularly in three waters) and other measures to convert the additional theoretical capacity into development that meets future housing needs.

A full revision of the HBA, including business land, will be completed in time to inform 2024 Long-term Plans and a Future Development Strategy for the Wellington Region. In the meantime, this HBA provides a baseline the councils can use to assess the impact on housing development capacity of plan changes and initiatives such as the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021.