{"id":451746,"date":"2026-05-29T22:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451746\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:01:12","slug":"budget-2026-how-much-could-your-council-get-from-govts-new-housing-consent-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451746\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget 2026: How much could your council get from Govt\u2019s new housing consent scheme?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infometrics\u2019 analysis for this policy over the March 2026 year suggested $1.2b would be returned to councils. <\/p>\n

Under the Growth Fund analysis, eight councils would receive funding of $1m or more: Auckland, Waikato District<\/a>, Hamilton City, Waipa District, Waimakariri District, Christchurch City, Selwyn District, and Queenstown-Lakes District.<\/p>\n

Auckland would be expected to get $39.9m per year and Christchurch City would get $10.8m, according to Infometrics\u2019 analysis.<\/p>\n

Just under half of councils (46%) would receive funding between $100,000 and $500,000. A third would be set for $100,000 or less. <\/p>\n

Housing Minister Chris Bishop says the figures from Infometrics\u2019 analysis appeared \u201cbroadly similar to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s modelling, with some differences for individual councils\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve designed the scheme specifically so that high-growth councils get more, and the system incentivises growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cActual numbers won\u2019t be known until next year, obviously, as they\u2019re based on February 1, 2026, to January 31, 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop said the scheme was about changing the \u201cpolitical economy of housing growth so that it is seen as a good thing, not a burden\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Infometrics'Infometrics’ chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen. Photo \/ Anna Heath <\/p>\n

The Growth Fund is a Government scheme designed to encourage councils to increase housing in their area by paying an incentive for new housing consents. <\/p>\n

Budget 2026<\/a> earmarked $400m for the next four years for this. <\/p>\n

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour<\/a> said the scheme, which was part of Act\u2019s coalition agreement with National, would make housing development a source of revenue for councils, rather than a source of cost. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time you get prompt service from a council is when they\u2019re issuing a parking ticket. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll come to you, anywhere, anytime, because there\u2019s money in it. <\/p>\n

\u201cImagine how many consents they\u2019d issue if there was money in it for them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Councils will receive payments based on a proportion of the national average new dwelling consent value. Payment rates increase the more homes a council consents: <\/p>\n

For each new home consented, up to an equivalent of 1% of existing dwellings, the payment rate is 0.25% of the national average consent value. For consents between 1-2% of existing dwellings, payment is 0.5% of the national average consent value. Beyond 2% of existing dwellings, payment is 1.25%. <\/p>\n

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infometrics\u2019 analysis for this policy over the March 2026 year suggested $1.2b would be returned to councils. Under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,8133,7564,11357,3269,8996,124,5205,7558,13574,13845,5346,8456,71,1333,7237,7231,2273,3339,221,229929,5812,1132,130,5969,117,111,43,139,69,2847,1517,3170,131,1959,80],"class_list":["post-451746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-analysis","tag-annually","tag-budget","tag-build","tag-consent","tag-could","tag-council","tag-councils","tag-efforts","tag-eight","tag-expected","tag-fresh","tag-from","tag-get","tag-governments","tag-govts","tag-houses","tag-housing","tag-how","tag-incentivise","tag-make","tag-million","tag-more","tag-much","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-reveals","tag-scheme","tag-than","tag-your","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}