The winners and losers of the quake-prone building shake up

Saturday, 4 October 2025

Under the Government’s new earthquake-prone building reforms, Wellington faces the highest costs of any city ‒ but compared with the strain of the current system, it also has the most to gain.

New documents obtained by The Post show estimates of how much money each major town and city in the country could save.

While Auckland looks like the biggest winner, saving an estimated $4.5 billion from the removal of all its 1351 earthquake-prone buildings, The Post looks at what the rest of the country stands to gain.

In Christchurch, only one fifth of its earthquake-prone buildings are to remain on the register, while Wellington keeps half.

While Wellington saves slightly more, with $1b of savings estimated compared to Christchurch’s $932,000, Wellington still has the most to pay under the new system - $700m away from being earthquake-risk free compared to Christchurch’s$195m.

Meanwhile, over 40% of buildings that need a full retrofit are located in Wellington, while Christchurch only had 9%.

Both cities are located on major faultlines and have suffered substantial earthquakes: Christchurch was hit by the 2010 earthquake and devastating February 2011 earthquake and both cities experienced damage following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.

A July 2013 earthquake caused considerable damage in Wellington, with older residents remembering two strong earthquakes shaking the city in 1942. Significant quakes in 1848 and 1855 saw many buildings demolished.

Cities such as Palmerston North save as much as $326 million, while Dunedin, a city with a larger population and around the same number of earthquake-prone buildings, saves $209m.

The towns which save the most costs overall are, in order: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Invercargill, Timaru, Dunedin and Napier.

The towns which have the most earthquake-prone buildings removed after Auckland are Christchurch with 339, Wellington with 271, Hamilton with 103, Palmerston North with 72, Invercargil with 40 and Feilding with 37.

Wellington faces biggest bill despite major gains

With a high concentration of earthquake-prone buildings relative to its size, Wellington’s expected reduction by half and $1b is a welcome reprieve.

Located on a major faultline, building owners in Wellington City have struggled with high repair costs, many of which are heritage buildings that end up abandoned.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many quake-risk masonry buildings were demolished along the Golden Mile, until the council and others began to understand the city’s heritage was disappearing, a council spokesperson said.

Councillor Iona Pannett said there was a push in the 1990s to bring more people into the central city, with many office buildings converted into apartments - unaware of the stricter earthquake rules to come.

It meant Wellington was worse off under the new law compared to other cities like Christchurch, who did not have as many high rise apartments.

But costs for apartment owners would be lowered.

Under the new system, buildings will see considerable cost reductions, with unreinforced masonry buildings under three storeys seeing an 80% cost reduction, while concrete buildings of more than three storeys will have a 20% cost reduction.

Chris Penk’s spokesperson said officials were confident unreinforced masonry buildings with more than three storeys would see cost reductions, but it was hard to give an exact figure.

Pannett said it was the Christchurch earthquake that “changed everything”, when higher premiums and the New Building Standard (NBS) was imposed and people who had a $500,000 apartment might need to spend $900,000 to strengthen it.

“It just didn't economically make sense,” she said.

The strengthening work had been difficult on both individuals and councils, with mammoth projects such as the Town Hall in Wellington blowing out to more than $300m.

Other Wellington council buildings impacted are The Embassy Theatre, the Opera House, the Michael Fowler Centre, Kilbirnie Recreation Centre, the Central Library, City Gallery, City to Sea Bridge, and Te Ngākau Civic Square basement.

Under the new system, 33 Wellington buildings will require a full retrofit out of 80 nationwide. Wellington has 178 Unreinforced Masonry buildings, and 91 concrete buildings.

Mayor Tory Whanau said that under the current system, Wellington frequently saw apartment owners “simply unable to afford the high cost of fully retrofitting their properties”.

“This wasn’t making buildings safer; instead, owners would walk away, leaving them derelict and potentially losing their life savings.”

Whanau said the halving of buildings deemed quake-prone would free up capital for investment in the city’s growth.

Council officers are currently assessing the implications of these changes for council-owned buildings and will present their advice during the new Council term.

A fifth of Christchurch buildings to remain on register

Christchurch now has 415 buildings on the register. Under the new regime, that number drops to 76.

The drop - about 78% of the existing list - equates to $932m in savings, leaving just $195m in expected costs to earthquake prone building owners.

According to Penk’s office, only seven earthquake buildings in Christchurch will require a full retrofit under the new rules.

Christchurch has 59 Unreinforced Masonry buildings, and 17 concrete buildings.

Most remediation work in the city has been completed as part of earthquake repairs, but many structures have been demolished, or left untouched, because of costs.

Steffan Thomas, Christchurch City Council’s head of building consenting previously said a large number of buildings remaining on the register were utility structures, like storage sheds and pump houses.

Rural towns set to save $1.8b under new rules

Some towns see only a small number of buildings taken off the list, but a comparably large amount of savings.

Outside of the three main centres - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington - rural New Zealand is saving $1.8b.

In smaller centres with populations less than 10,000 people, only risky facades will need strengthening on most main streets, rather than whole buildings.

This affects 145 New Zealand towns, and Penk said when visiting small towns to see how they would fare in the new regime, some had indicated the change would impact half the buildings on their main road.

While measuring the benefit for town centres by dollar figures saw the large centres winning, Penk said it was the smallest centres where the impacts could be the largest.

Towns that save the most money include: Taumarunui with $54m, Morrinsville with $50m and Wairoa with $44m.

Dannevirke has only two buildings taken off its register, but these two buildings make up nearly all of the town’s $69m of strengthening, leaving the town with only $2m left to spend on remediation.

Cambridge meanwhile, has one building off the list, saving the town $29m.

Palmerston North saves the most outside the big three

After the three main centres - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington - Palmerston North is saving the most under the new regime.

Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith said the savings would have a large impact.

“That would affect any city, so we’re treating it really positively.”

Palmerston North currently has 203 buildings registered as quake-prone - that number will drop to 131 under the new system.

The most prominent earthquake-prone building in Palmerston North is the All Saints Church, which has been closed pending earthquake strengthening since 2013, and Palmerston North's central library.

“A quick skim of the standards showed we will be able to do things more economically than previously leglislated.”

Dunedin keeps most quake-prone buildings but saves $209m

After Wellington City, Dunedin has the most buildings to repair, with 132 buildings expected to stay on the register.

While only 28 buildings are to be removed from 160 currently on the list, Dunedin can expect to save nearly half the total cost it has under the current system, saving $209m.

Coastal Otago is shifting from 'low' to 'medium' risk.

The change is separate to the overhaul and due to the latest scientific understanding of seismic risk along fault lines, Penk announced on Monday.