UPDATED 7.44pm Making it easier to build both up, and out, is Labour's solution to the housing crisis.
The party has just laid out its policy, saying Auckland's urban growth boundary should be scrapped, as it artificially drives up prices.
Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford said the council also needs more power to approve medium density developments.
"If Auckland's going to accommodate the growth it needs without massive sprawling into the countryside then we have to make it easier to build more medium-density and thus more affordable options in the city."
Mr Twyford said the urban limit doesn't control sprawl, but it does make the land inside cost up to ten times more than rural land.
"That differential is a magnet for the land bankers and the speculators who game the system by buying land, waiting for it to be zoned urban, and then they make massive windfall profits."
Regulatory reform spokesperson David Parker said they could still combat sprawl by making developers shoulder the costs for new infrastructure.
"You've to got to make sure all of the real costs that are incurred by something that's out in the country, compared with something that's on an existing bus route, are actually paid for."
Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said an artificial boundary that chokes land supply is counterintuitive.
"What really quite delights us is we're suddenly starting to see a whole lot of political starting to line up with similar sorts of thinking. But there is no doubt Labour's position is the most bold so far."
Finance Minister Bill English said there's now a pretty clear signal being sent to the Auckland Council about its unitary plan.
"When your plan turns up in six weeks time they need to demonstrate it enables enough supply and Mr Twyford's statement shows to them that there's a strong parliamentary majority for a plan that's going to allow more houses."
ACT leader David Seymour said his party campaigned on the idea in 2014.
He said he's glad to see the housing debate moving away from hysteria over foreign buyers.
"Well it's the redemption of a racist. Once upon a time Phil Twyford just wanted to blame the Chinese or people with Chinese-sounding names now he's adopted Act's policy of freeing up land."
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