Achieving competitive urban land markets in new system

The government will establish an independent economic umpire to ensure councils achieve competitive urban land markets through the new planning system.

An amendment paper to the Government’s Planning Bill will establish the role of an independent Urban Land Market Officer to determine whether urban land markets are competitive, to monitor and report on land market performance, and to advise central government and councils on actions to increase competitiveness.

This new officer will focus on monitoring and advising on urban land market competitiveness. It will have functions to:

• develop a framework which would include any thresholds for determining competitiveness set in line with national instruments

• monitor and report on the competitiveness of urban land markets

• require information from local authorities to enable an assessment as to the competitiveness of their urban land markets

• assess the extent land use regulation is impacting the competitiveness of urban land markets

• make formal determinations on whether a land market is competitive or not.

• advise the government on actions to increase competitiveness in land markets

If the Officer makes a determination that a local authority’s actions under the Planning Act have contributed to a non-competitive urban land market, then the local authority will need to take action to address this, such as by progressing a plan change to enable more capacity for housing.