Why is Auckland's housing capacity not the number of homes that get built?

Plan Change 120 is a plan change, not a build programme. Auckland Council's Have Your Say page says the government reduced the minimum theoretical capacity from about 2 million homes to at least 1.4 million, and that 1.4 million is the number that could be built if every suitable property was developed to the maximum permitted. Source: https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/aucklands-future-housing-plan

OurAuckland, 2 April 2026, says the same lowering to 1.4 million, and states that Plan Change 120 is a plan and not what will actually be built, which is determined by market demand. Source: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/media-centre/2026/april/more-flexibility-for-plan-change-120/

Auckland Council's chief economist, Gary Blick, told OurAuckland that homes constructed rose from 10,200 in 2018 to 18,100 in 2023, with 17,200 more in 2024, and that more than 90 per cent of consented homes are built. Those are completion figures, not capacity figures. Source: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2025/06/how-many-consents-become-new-homes/

Opinion: treating the 1.4 million capacity figure as a delivery promise confuses a planning ceiling with a construction pipeline.