6. Housing Auckland—SupplyPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and ConstructionHousing Auckland—Supply6. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and Construction: Do MBIE officials still advise that the shortfall of housing in Auckland is projected to continue beyond 2030?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Construction): No and the member misrepresents the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's (MBIE's) advice. No one can seriously predict with any certainty housing shortfalls 13 years hence given the level of variability in both population and house building. The solution to the shortfall is what we are focused on and that is getting more houses built. The house-building rate has trebled from that which we inherited from the previous Government and has grown by an average of 20 percent for every year for 6 straight years—the longest period of continuous growth on record.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek the leave of the House to table advice from Treasury and MBIE officials to the Minister Dr Nick Smith predicting—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I do not need that; I just need the source of the document.Phil Twyford: An Official Information Act release.Mr SPEAKER: On that basis I will assume that it may not be in the public arena. I will put the leave and the House will decide. Leave is sought to table that information. Is there any objection? Yes there is.Phil Twyford: How long does he think that it will take to eliminate the 40000 shortfall of homes that has built up on his watch in light of numbers from Auckland Council that show that fewer than half of the 14000 homes Auckland needs per year were actually completed last year?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Firstly the member is wrong: last year there were 10400 homes consented. The member keeps wanting to use code compliance certificates but they do not apply to retirement villages—and actually they are houses—and actually Statistics New Zealand has just produced a report that says that building consents result in 98 percent of homes. In respect of the member's other question I simply point out that the scale of building in Auckland now is at all-time record levels. Phil Twyford: Why does he prefer to use Statistics New Zealand's consent data over Auckland Council's numbers based on code compliance certificates that actually prove the completion of a building given that Statistics New Zealand described its data as experimental and said it was still refining it?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: For two good reasons. The first thing is that there is no legal requirement to have a code compliance certificate on a house. I actually happen to be living in a home that was completed 18 months ago; it does not yet have a code compliance certificate. Secondly when a code compliance certificate is issued for an apartment block there is only one code compliance certificate issued but it may be for 50 apartments so that makes a substantive difference. The third point I make is that the Statistics New Zealand report concluded that the most reliable measure of building activity is on the consent figures and on average it takes 10 months from the time of the consent until the home is complete. [Interruption] Phil Twyford: Is he concerned—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have not yet called the member. I am just waiting for some silence to give him a fair go.Phil Twyford: Is he concerned that the trend for consents for new dwellings in Auckland has now fallen every month since September last year and that consents are down on the same month last year?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have those exact figures in front of me and let us just take it very simply. Add up the number of consents for the first 6 months of this year and compare them with the first 6 months of last year. These 6 months are higher—that is called growth—and no matter how many times the member opposite tries to skew or misrepresent the numbers the fact is that we have got the largest building boom ever in Auckland's history.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was about the trend not the absolute figures per month.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was quite a detailed question. Without a doubt in my opinion it was addressed.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I seek leave of the House to table the latest report I have received from MBIE on the number of building consents in Auckland which shows that 4770 were consented—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I do not need that part of the information to decide whether to put the leave. What I do need is just an assurance that it is not publicly available.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: It is a specific report that was provided to me from MBIE and so would not be available—Mr SPEAKER: That is all I need. Leave is sought to table that particular report. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is not. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Phil Twyford: When he wrote to—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The conversation between Mr Joyce and Mr Robertson will cease. If they wish to have a conversation they are welcome to go to the lobbies and have a convivial time over a cup of coffee if they like.Phil Twyford: When he wrote to land bankers in June 2015 begging them to develop the land in their special housing areas how many replied to his letter and how many built houses as a result of his begging letter?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would need to check that but what I would point out is this: at mid-2017 the prediction was that there would be 4400 consents in special housing areas. Actually there have been 5500—that is the number of homes in special housing areas is 1000 more than what we projected at that time.Phil Twyford: I seek leave to table Nick Smith's begging letter to the land bankers which was released—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will put the leave but I do not need that description of the letter. Leave is sought to table a particular letter written by the Minister. Is there any objection to it being tabled? Yes there is objection.Phil Twyford: After 9 years and a housing shortage that continues to get worse by the day is it not time for a massive Government-backed building programme of affordable houses the abolition of the urban growth boundary that he has been promising for 10 years but has not done yet and a move to infrastructure bonds to finance infrastructure for new development?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member is like an old stuck record. The infrastructure bonds that were announced by my colleague Steven Joyce with the special purpose vehicle shows that he has resorted to picking up the Government's policies and pretending that they are new. The member also does not seem to recognise that in the last 12 months the Auckland housing market has been absolutely flat something that is a consequence of the record building boom.