FEATURE
ŌtautahiChristchurch — a growing city Lianne Dalziel, Mayor, Christchurch City Council
Ōtautahi-Christchurch is going from strength to strength as a city, and our population is growing as more people discover the benefits of living and working here.
We are an attractive option for those looking to relocate. Those who call Ōtautahi-Christchurch home can enjoy an unrivalled lifestyle, good employment opportunities and access to a diverse landscape and range of outdoor activities right on their doorstep. House prices in the city are also more affordable than those in the country’s other large city centres. In 2021, the average house value in the city was around six times the average annual income, whilst in Auckland and Wellington City it was eight and ten times respectively. There’s also the easy commute in a city where nearly every destination is no more than 20 minutes away along with access to four world-class universities.
Planning ahead Our growing population is driving demand for more homes. Over the next 30 years, it’s predicted we’ll need over 50,000 more houses in Ōtautahi-
18
|
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
Christchurch to ensure everyone has a place to live, and we’re planning for that now to provide for future generations. We are proposing changes to our District Plan to accommodate our continued growth and prosperity. These District Plan changes will affect how and where our city grows, how we move around, the type of housing we live in, and how we adapt and respond to climate change and coastal hazards. We need to make sure that we can cater for growth by putting more houses in the right parts of our city — and we need to respect mana whenua values and protect aspects that make us unique, so people continue to want to live and thrive here.
National direction Some of the changes to our planning rules are driven at a national level via the National Policy Statement — Urban Development (NPS-UD) and the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act. Through these,
