Monthly decline fails to curb strong annual result

The year ended October 2022 experienced a 5.1% increase in the number of new homes consented, despite a decline in new homes consented for the month of October 2022

There were 50,252 new homes consented in the year ended October 2022, a number boosted by strong performance earlier in the year – said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“Despite the monthly fall, the annual number of new homes consented remained at a high level, due to higher numbers in earlier months.”

There were 3,568 new homes consented in the month of October 2022, a 12% reduction compared with the month of October 2021. Of those, there were 1,649 townhouses, 1,541 stand-alone houses, 239 apartments and 139 retirement village units.

Of the 50,252 new homes consented in the year ended October 2022, there were 28,116 multi-unit homes and 22,136 stand-alone houses.

Canterbury still breaking records

Across the regions, Canterbury was the only area to hit an annual record in the number of new homes consented in the year ended October 2022 with 8,718 (an increase of 16%).

Auckland experienced an increase compared to the year ended October 2021 with 21,960 new homes consented in the year ended October 2022,a 10% increase, as did Wellington (3,712, up 6.6%).

Waikato dropped 3% with 4,908 new homes consented.

There was an 11% seasonally adjusted fall in the number of new homes consented in October 2022 compared with September 2022. The seasonally adjusted number of stand-alone houses fell 9.3% in October 2022, compared with a 0.1% rise in September 2022.

That continues the trend of a decline in the number of stand-alone homes consented across the board. The number of stand-alone houses consented in the year ended October 2022 fell 14% compared to the year ended October 2021. It also fell 27% in the month of October 2022, compared to the month of October 2021.

New homes per thousand up

There was an increase in the national number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents (9.8) in the year ended October 2022, compared to 9.4 in the year ended October 2021.

“The number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents is useful for comparing the number of new homes consented across the regions, as it accounts for the difference in population between areas,” said Heslop.

Queenstown-Lakes (29.1), Selwyn (23.3) and Mackenzie (18.5) were the territorial authorities with the higher number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents in the year ended October 2022.

“The number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents can be high in popular holiday areas, as holidaymakers and tourists are excluded from the estimated resident population,” continued Heslop.

“But some of the places they stay, such as holiday homes, are included in the number of homes consented.”

Around the regions

Canterbury and Auckland reached records for the number of homes consented per 1,000 residents in the year ended October 2022, said Heslop. Canterbury (13.3, up 11.5%), Auckland (13, up 11.7%), Tasman (10.8, up 8.9%) and Otago (10.1, up 9.2%) all experienced increases compared to the year ended October 2021.

Non-residential building consents increase

In the year ended October 2022, non-residential building consents totalled $9.4bn, up 15% from the year ended October 2021. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.7 billion (up 66%).
• Storage buildings – $1.5bn (up 48%).
• Education buildings – $1.5bn (down 2.8%).