For Gerard Costello, a successful housing development requires more than the right piece of land.

As General Manager at Neilston Homes, he says infrastructure certainty and support in reaching first-home buyers are two of the biggest advantages of a partnership with Kāinga Ora.

“Buying development-ready sites in established neighbourhoods can be challenging in the private market,” says Gerard.

“It often involves multiple landowners with different motivations and expectations. The master-planned approach at Kāinga Ora gives us confidence that infrastructure, public spaces and transport connections are being delivered in a coordinated way that benefits the whole neighbourhood.”

“Added reach” in marketing and sales is another part of the partnership mix that helps ensure success.

“Being able to connect with purchasers – particularly first-home buyers – through Kāinga Ora channels, products and tools helps us ensure the homes we’re delivering are reaching the right audiences,” he says.

“Partnering with Kāinga Ora has enabled us to deliver homes in well-located, established parts of Auckland – places where people genuinely want to live, with strong amenity, good transport connections and infrastructure that is built to support the future.”

A recent Roskill Development purchase in Waikōwhai has now been transformed into 15 new homes. It includes a mix of standalone, duplex and terraced homes with two and three-bedroom options – all built by a business able to focus on delivering quality homes, rather than navigating some of the complexities often associated with network-level infrastructure planning and delivery.

Gerard says these advantages can be particularly valuable for developers looking to take the next step in growing their business.

"Working within Kāinga Ora LSPs can make stepping into larger projects feel more manageable, as much of the planning and infrastructure is already taken care of,” he says.

“It allows developers to focus on delivering well-designed, quality homes rather than getting caught up in some of those more complex challenges."