Consents drop nearly 10,000 from peak

The number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2023 was down nearly 10,000 from its peak in the year ended May 2022 – and 17% compared to the year ended August 2022

There were 42,110 new homes consented in the year ended August 2023, which, despite the fall in consents compared to the year ended August 2022, remains high when placed in a historic context. Of the 42,100 new homes consented, there were 17,267 stand-alone houses consented (-24%) and 24,843 multi-unit homes consented (-10%).

“This figure continues the downward trend from the peak of 51,015 in the year ended May 2022,” said Construction and Property Statistics manager Anna Howe.

“However, the number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2023 is still at a higher level than any 12-month period prior to 2021.”

There was a significant decline in the number of new homes consented in the month of August 2023 (3,170) compared with August 2022 (4,121). Of the 3,170 new homes consented, there were 1,243 stand-alone houses consented (-35%) and 1,927 multi-unit homes consented (-26% compared with August 2022).

The decline makes it nearly 12 months since the number of new homes consented in a month has increased compared to the previous month, said Howe.

“The last time this occurred was in September 2022.”

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented in August 2023 fell 6.7% compared with July 2023 – which follows a seasonally adjusted fall of 5.4% in July 2023.

Most regions down

In the year ended August 2023, all but one region consented fewer new homes compared with the year ended August 2022. Auckland’s consents dropped 16% to 18,003, Canterbury consented 15% fewer with 7,406, Waikato consented 22% fewer with 3,981 and Wellington’s consents dropped by 16% with 3,267.

The only region which consented more than the year ended August 2023 was Marlborough, which increased from 259 to 267.

Consents per 1,000 mirrors nationwide results

Consents per 1,000 residents reflected nationwide results as Marlborough was the only region to consent more homes per 1,000 residents with 5.1 in the year ended August 2023, compared with 5.0 in the year ended August 2022.

Auckland (10.6 compared to 12.7), Tasman (10.2 compared to 8.3) and Canterbury (11.3 compared to 13.3) all experienced notable declines.

Non-residential building consents mostly up

In the year ended August 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.9bn, up 8.3% from the year ended August 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings – $1.7bn (up 45%).
• Education buildings – $1.5bn (down 5.6%).
• Storage buildings – $1.4bn (up 0.5%).