Categorisation update – 5 December 2024

Welcome to our fortnightly categorisation programme update.

Overall, 3529 property owners have registered for the categorisation scheme which is now closed, and we are no longer accepting new homeowners into the programme. The Recovery Office remains open and will continue to guiding registered homeowners through the process, alongside delivering related services including the Navigation Service.

We are now over 78% of the way through delivering categorisations, having confirmed final property categories for 2731 homes. Of these, 951 are classed as Category 3 and eligible for a buy-out and 118 are eligible for construction grants to reduce the risk at their home (as of 5 December). This has been supported by a huge effort from our technical and engineering teams having completed over 3406 desktop assessments and 2523 site assessments. 

762 Category 3 homeowners have received or accepted a buy-out valuation, and 421 properties had completed their sale and purchase agreements (29 November). With each situation being unique, we are working as flexibly as we can to support homeowners to make their decisions - while remaining fair across the programme. 

Most of homeowners still waiting for a category had registered for the programme more recently. However some homeowners that have been waiting for some time have more complicated situations, including the need to understand if a community or property mitigation will reduce the risk at their home to a reasonable level. 

With registrations now closed, we expect to have confirmed all categorisations by the end of March 2025, with the buy-out process continuing into 2025 and our home removal programme into 2026. 

Buy-out numbers exceed forecast

Now that registrations are closed, and we have completed over 3000 assessments, we have already exceeded our forecast of 900 Category 3 homes.

With a further 800 homes yet to be categorised, the Recovery Office is presenting its revised buy-out forecasts to the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday 5 December, along with funding options.

We expect the number of Category 3 homes to reach over 1200, requiring up to $200 million additional funding - the majority of which could be reallocated within the existing $2 billion co-funding agreement with the Government, subject to ministerial approval.

Given the level of serious risk we are finding after last year’s storms, we are seeing a natural rebalancing of funding towards retreat over resilience. While we are committed to the most important task of moving people out of harm’s way, we will need to do some work to reprioritise some of our resilience infrastructure plans.

You can view the report to the Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee at infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz. 

An ongoing note on the complexity of categorisation

Many properties have proven more complex to categorise for several reasons:

• There is an intolerable risk to life, but we need to assess the feasibility of a mitigation at the property. Examples include retaining walls, house raising or moving, altering fences and other structures blocking overland flow paths, or changes to driveways or landscaping

• There is an intolerable risk to life, but we have been waiting on confirmation of a community infrastructure project that could reduce this risk for whole neighbourhoods. Examples include redirecting overland flow paths, making more space for water to flow and pool, stopbanks, and upgrading culverts and roads. These projects are being scoped looking at feasibility of timelines, practicality, costs and impacts

• There are both flooding and landslip issues at the property

• Recent work at neighbouring properties, or the shifting of land, have changed the risk profile since we started.

See key categorisation and buyout figures below.

Categorisation progress (at 29 November 2024) 

Note: Not every home will need a site assessment, but some may need more than one

Category 3 buy-out progress (at 29 November 2024)

Categories confirmed (at 4 December 2024)

*​A small number of properties that have registered for the programme are ineligible, including those with vacant land, commercial/non-residential properties, or properties owned by public service providers. The programme is focused on addressing risk to life in residential situations. 

Categories by suburb (at 4 December)