A new report has calculated just how many houses could currently be built in Auckland, but highlights the massive lack of available land.

Property Council CEO Connal Townsend is welcoming the clear picture painted by the housing feasibility report.

He said the Auckland Plan target is 400,000 new homes, but the report shows there's only enough land for 64,000.

"We need more land on the outskirts, but we also need an awful lot more density in terms of apartments and terrace houses within the boundaries as well, and that's the next big job that council's going to be doing with the hearings panel on the unitary plan."

But the report is being touted as a useful tool for ironing out the details of Auckland's new unitary plan by the council.

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse said it will give decision-makers a good basis for discussions.

She said the council can now use the report to look at what can be allowed for in the unitary plan as it stands now "and then looking at the changes that are already underway, how much that increases the ability for development in areas where it's very much needed."