‘It’s going to be awesome’ - RMA overhaul to cut house building costs
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Plans for a major overhaul of resource management laws have been welcomed as a sure way to lower housing and building costs, while environmental groups are fearful of their effects on native species and landscapes.
On Tuesday RMA Reform and Housing Minister Chris Bishop introduced new legislation he described as removing a handbrake on the nation’s growth and opportunity.
The Government wants its Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill to take effect from mid-2026, replacing the 1991 Resource Management Act (RMA). Some urgent changes would be introduced in the meantime.
Bishop said the changes would almost halve the number of resource consents required, potentially boosting the nation’s annual GDP by $3.1 billion.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) chairman Deon Swiggs described the changes as generational.
“Having a more simplified plan (is) definitely good. However, there’s a lot of detail in it that needs to be understood and there are always trade-offs.”
Those trade-offs will become apparent when the secondary legislation is released in March, he said.
Swiggs said there will be automatic extensions for recently or imminently expiring resource consents, and farmers would “feel the changes straight away”.
He said once the legislation takes effect, the “public will notice changes in regards to how much easier potentially it could be to get resource consent for buildings, or for activities that require resource consents”.
ECan expects to meet with Ngāi Tahu in the next week to discuss the reforms and effects on their role. A Ngāi Tahu spokesperson said the iwi is not ready to comment on the proposed legislation.
Christchurch construction sector analyst and consultant Mike Blackburn said the proposed changes would have an “immediate” effect on building efficiency and costs.
“From a Canterbury perspective, it’s going to be awesome.
“Let’s stop f…ing about and unnecessarily putting delays and bureaucracy and extra costs in the way.”
He said issues such as home layouts and which way front doors face are no business of councils and should be left to architects and developers.
Blackburn expects the biggest effects in greater Christchurch would be on fast-growing Selwyn district.
“This really puts the acid on councils to make sure they have their infrastructure planning at the same speed and capacity as planned development.”
Blackburn expects there will be unintended consequences. Unscrupulous practitioners might take advantage of their extra sign-off powers and the reduction in site inspections, he said.
He said planning rules covering a whole region, rather than differing from council to council, would streamline work but risked being too broad.
Matthew Horncastle, co-owner of Williams Corporation, one of the nation’s biggest home builders, also expects lower house prices, and said strong competition between developers would see cost reductions passed on.
Horncastle said as much as half the cost of a new home now is “due to government interference”.
This includes consenting fees, GST, other taxes and duties, development contributions, increased interest costs because of delays, and the effect of zoning restrictions on land prices, he said.
“This is a fantastic step for New Zealand. High housing costs have affected the poor and the middle-class the most.”
Property Council NZ chief executive Leonie Freeman said the announced changes would be “very positive for development, investment, and economic productivity”, and they plan to work with the Government to ensure a “workable, balanced, and fit-for-purpose” system.
She said cross-party alignment will be important, as future ministerial changes could “have major impacts on planning approvals”.
“Ultimately, it will be the detail and how it is implemented that matters.”
Business Canterbury chief executive Leeann Watson said the Government’s proposal would help local businesses by “making the planning system more efficient, reducing costs, and providing more consistency without losing sight of environmental protections”.
Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said the changes will mean “smarter, faster, better infrastructure”.
“New Zealand has to move much faster when it comes to delivering the critical infrastructure our communities rely on. In this context, these reforms are long overdue.”
He urged New Zealanders to submit their thoughts to Government on the proposed changes.
Greenpeace spokesperson Genevieve Toop described the legislation’s provision for compensation when councils bring in new environmental protections “outrageous”, and called for it to be removed.
“Under this plan, New Zealanders would have to pay companies causing environmental harm to get them to stop.”
Forest & Bird general counsel Erika Toleman warned the new laws could weaken critical environmental safeguards.
“Nearly 4000 of our native species are already on the brink. We simply cannot reduce environmental protections and expect anything other than more extinctions.”
Toleman said the reforms place greater weighting on private property rights.
“We all want a planning system that is faster, simpler, and more effective. But weakening environmental protection will not fix the housing crisis or make the economy stronger.”
Greg Severinsen, reform director of the Environmental Defence Society, said taken as a whole, the Government’s plan is “not as bad as it could have been, and there's some good stuff in there”.