A 196-home development on surplus Crown land in Massey East with Fletcher Residential has been signed today by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith.

"This agreement will enable this 9.2 hectare block of former Ministry of Education land in Moire Road to be developed into a mix of 196 detached, terraced and duplex homes. A 30 per cent portion, or 59 homes, will be made available for social housing.

"This agreement requires the $130 million development to proceed at pace. Earthworks and infrastructure work will begin later this year, building in February and the first homes will be completed by August 2017.

"This site was purchased last October, repurposed to allow residential development in November and offered to the Iwi Limited Partnership in January this year. The Iwi Partnership declined the offer and it was subsequently offered to Fletcher Residential as the top-ranked, low-density developer from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's open, competitive process carried out last year.

"The agreement is the first under the Government's Auckland Crown land housing development programme and follows one in Christchurch involving four sites and 1020 homes. Four Auckland sites, with the capacity for 940 homes, have been bought with the $52.2 million allocated to the programme in Budget 2015. Another $100 million was announced in Budget 2016 to buy more land.

"This new development complements Auckland's building boom, with construction growing from $3.3 billion in 2012 to a record high of $6.1 billion. Auckland's housing problem is primarily an issue of insufficient supply and poor historic planning policies that have not sufficiently allowed for growth. This Crown land housing programme and development are part of the solution."