Aucklanders buddying up with extended family or friends to buy a home are the focus of a new development in the city's south east.
Most of the houses being built in the Bremner Ridge subdivision in the suburb of Flat Bush have between six and eight bedrooms with split living areas - in what the developer Templeton has called an "innovative solution to affordable housing."
Aman Pannu from Harcourts said it was proving to be a winning formula.
More than 90 percent of the 360 lots have sold, largely to multi-generational buyers, he said.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"You've got mum, dad, two grandkids and two grandparents - that would be typical of what happens."
Sections range in size from 300 m2 to 10,000 m2 lifestyle blocks.
The developers applied for a plan change so the houses can have two independent kitchens and living areas.
"A typical layout would be a double garage, entrance, guest lounge, family dining, kitchen, scullery, and one or two bedrooms on the ground floor with its own living area. Up on the top you'll have two masters, the rest of the bedrooms and one living area," Pannu said.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Harcourt's Teghbir Singh said the layouts also open up the possibility of sub-letting.
"The one or two bedrooms that are set up on the ground floor - they'll be let out, so you'll have one or two people living with you. And people generally don't mind because it's people they know... they've studied together or worked together," he said.
"It's quite a common thing in Flat Bush."
By 2025 an estimated 40,000 people will call Flat Bush, or Ormiston, home.
Located 30 minutes drive from the city centre on former dairy farming land, Auckland Council said it was the country's "largest and most comprehensively planned town."
It has supermarkets, retail stores, cafes, restaurants and medical facilities, along with a library and an aquatic centre under construction.
40 percent of the Bremner Ridge subdivision is green space, with walkways, gullies and parks.
There are carparking bays on the street, and most houses have a double garage and room for two cars on the driveway.
Photo: Supplied/ Harcourts
Pannu said those cashing in on the new houses haven't just been families.
Some have been mates wanting to get a foot in the market, including a pair of buyers last week.
"One of the friends has a family, the other was just a single gentleman. They both were truck drivers and had decided to buy together - that's the only way they could afford [to buy]," he said.
Kiwibank has also had its eye on the growing trend of alternative home ownership models.
It launched a system called 'Co-Own' allowing friends and family to combine their savings for a deposit .
