Subdivision on steroids
Is it our imagination or is Canterbury seeing an unprecedented explosion of subdivisions? To find out, Metropol deputy editor Tamara Pitelen asked Christchurch City Council’s Head of Planning and Consents Mark Stevenson.
Anyone who lives in Christchurch can see that the city is undergoing massive change. As someone who grew up here in the 70s and 80s, the scale and speed of this is mind-boggling to me. Before my very eyes, I’m watching the farms and rural land I once rode past on my bike as a kid turning into residential subdivisions seemingly overnight.
In older parts of the city, standalone single-storey quarter-acre-section family homes built in the 1960s and 70s are being bowled over at a rate of knots and replaced by architectually-designed, two-storey contemporary townhouses.
Most of us have heard about the various drivers of this change. These include relative housing affordability compared to the rest of the country and the subsequent ‘north to south’ migration wave as well as central government pro-development zoning changes designed to force greater urban intensification.
New laws on fast-tracked greenfield growth have sped up housing developments, leading to active suburban expansion in areas like Halswell (Longhurst, Knights Stream), Belfast, and neighbouring districts like Rolleston (including the massive Westhaven project aiming for 5000 homes) and Lincoln.
Of course, the post-quake rebuild and the completion of anchor infrastructure projects such as Te Kaha Stadium, Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Tūranga Library, and Parakiore Recreation and Sports Centre have done their bit, too. Basically, Canterbury is a fantastic place to live. Word is spreading.
While on the one hand, this is really exciting, at the same time, I find myself wondering and worrying. I worry about the amount of greenfield building, especially in areas that were traditionally floodplains and wetlands. I worry about ‘infrastructure lag’ with new mega suburbs like Halswell facing issues with local roading, schools, and water infrastructure to keep pace with the new estates and I hate seeing trees get cut down. Yet I console myself with the thought that experts who are far more informed than me must have it all in hand. Surely. Right?
To find out, I asked the people in the know at the Christchurch City Council and got some insight from Head of Planning and Consents Mark Stevenson. Here’s what he said:
Mark, what is happening? As an amateur observer who lives near Cashmere, Kennedy’s Bush, and Halswell, with the odd trip to Lincoln, Prebbleton, and Woodend, Christchurch seems to be exploding with residential subdivisions…
Over the last five years within Christchurch, just over 16,000 dwellings have been constructed with about a third of these being constructed in new ‘greenfield’ subdivisions. This is a decrease from the 10-year average of about 44%, as there has been a significant increase in infill development via multi-unit developments – now making up about 70% of all new units.
The greater Halswell area has by far seen the greatest growth, with over 3500 dwellings consented over the last 10 years.
You can find an interactive summary of consenting and locations here: ccc.govt.nz/culture-and-community/statistics-and-facts/built-environment-reporting
What’s the why? Is the region really seeing the population growth to warrant so much greenfield being turned into new housing developments?
Over the last five years, Christchurch has outpaced the national average population growth rate, estimated to have climbed by at least 23,000 people (2020 = 396.2k, 2026 = 419.2k).
A significant contributor has been international migration, with net migration spiking in 2023 at an estimated 8400 international migrants (net) coming to Christchurch. Internal migration (people moving to Christchurch from other cities) has also been a contributing factor. The Canterbury earthquakes saw a large fall in net internal migration, but since 2019 net migration has been in the positive, with more New Zealanders moving to Christchurch than leaving. Over the last five years, this now outstrips natural population increase at a rate of 1.1 to 1, while net international migration is at a rate of 2 to 1.
You can find interactive demographic and economic information here: regions.infometrics.co.nz/christchurch-city
Are developers ensuring that enough land is being left as wetlands, flood plains, etc? Also with climate breakdown on our doorstep, are plans for tree canopy cover and other mitigation measures robust enough? As well, is there enough water availability?
Outside the Central City, the Long-Term Plan (LTP) 2024 to 2034 explicitly promotes low-impact or water-sensitive urban design methods (such as swales, rain gardens, detention basins, and constructed wetlands) that imitate natural hydrological processes.
Subdivisions must dispose of stormwater within designated management areas to prevent flooding on the development site or adjoining properties. Stormwater infrastructure must satisfy the required levels of service in the Council’s Infrastructure Design Standard (IDS); where network capacity is insufficient, adverse runoff effects must be mitigated on-site. It is for this reason that you may have noticed the larger stormwater management facilities in many new neighbourhoods.
Subdivisions need to incorporate public open space networks, street trees, and integrated landscaping to establish neighbourhood identity and enhance visual amenity. New road layouts must provide amenity strips and street tree planting corridors, ensuring trees are integrated with utility services, street lighting, and visibility splays. Subdivision consent applications are assessed on their ability to retain mature specimen trees, tree-lined accessways, and existing shelterbelts to give new developments an immediate sense of maturity.
Wider than this, the Council has committed to the Ōtautahi-Christchurch Urban Forest Plan, which seeks to grow our tree canopy cover – both in established and new urban areas.
You can read more about this here: ccc.govt.nz/environment/trees-and-vegetation/urbanforest
What are the key subdivision and housing trends?
(My understanding is that there are four main ones: central government fast-tracked greenfield growth legislation; council pushback on the speed of developments eating into rural outskirts; the CBD townhouse and apartment boom targeting 20,000 new downtown residents following the opening of the Te Kaha stadium, and Christchurch having the fastest-selling property market in the country, leaving the market in a median of 42 days.)
Within Christchurch District there are four listed fast-track projects, which consist of:
- One residential subdivision: Grassmere Residential Development in Papanui, for which subdivision and land-use consents have been granted under the typical Resource Management Act process
- Two industrial subdivisions: Pound Road Industrial Development, granted 1 May 2026. And Ryans Road Industrial Development, granted 7 May 2026
- One infrastructure project: Implementation of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan
While the Fast-track Act provides a pathway for projects that were not listed in the legislation to be referred to the fast-track process, no projects within Christchurch District have yet been referred.
In addition to these Fast Track applications, the Council is also processing a record number of private plan change requests. This is the formal way of saying that private applicants are requesting re-zoning to enable moderate to large-scale developments.
These are as follows:
- Three residential rezoning – potentially enabling some 1200 new dwellings;
- Two industrial zonings – potentially enabling around 150 new industrial premises; and
- One mixed-use re-zoning – potentially enabling over 600 residential units, new hotel, and over 25,000 sqm of commercial or mixed-use space
As you can see on the dashboard, the second greatest area for residential development has been the central city. Almost every development has been for multi-unit development.
Across the city, you can see that this trend is also continuing, with 2026 on track to be the first year where at least 70% of housing is a multi-unit development (townhouse or apartment). This compares to just shy of 40% of housing being multi-unit development 10-years ago. Such development has been over 60% proportionately since 2021.
