Consents continue downward trend

The year ended November 2023 saw consents drop by nearly a quarter year-on-year – well below a peak of 51,015 consents recorded in the year ended May 2022 

In the year ended November 2023, 38,209 new homes were consented – 24% less than in the same period the previous year. Of the new homes consented, there were 22,251 multi-unit homes (-22% year-on-year) and 15,958 stand-alone houses (-27%). Of the multi-unit homes, 17,033 were townhouses, flats and units (-19%), 2,817 apartments (-35%) and 2,401 retirement village units (-19%).

Construction & Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop said that national trends mirror those already experienced in Auckland.

“In the year ended November 2023, the number of townhouses, flats, and units consented was higher than the number of stand-alone houses,” Heslop said. 

“At the national level, the year ended March 2023 was the first time the annual number of townhouses, flats, and units consented surpassed the number of stand-alone houses.

“In Auckland, this has been the case since the year ended November 2020.”

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented in November 2023 fell 11%, following an 8.5% seasonally adjusted fall in October 2023.

Regional outliers

Only two regions consented more dwellings in the year ended November 2023 compared to the previous year, as Marlborough (281 vs 258) and Gisborne (185 vs 168) bucked nationwide trends.

The four regions with the most consents issued were Auckland (15,872; -27%), Canterbury (7,158; -19%) Waikato (3,589; -26%) and Wellington (2,743; -28%), though all experienced declines compared with the year ended November 2022.

There were 2,958 new homes consented in the month of November 2023 – a drop of 36% compared to the month of November 2022, which consented 4,649 new dwellings.

In November 2023, there were 1,462 stand-alone homes consented; a 20% reduction compared to November 2022, which consented 1,837 stand-alone homes. There was also a 47% reduction in the amount of multi-unit homes consented from 2,812 to 1,496.

Consents down per 1,000 residents

In terms of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents, the figures for the year ended November 2023 declined compared with the year ended November 2022 (7.3 vs 9.8).

Three regions consented above national levels: Auckland (9.1 vs 12.8), Otago (7.8 vs 9.9) and Canterbury (10.7 vs 13.6.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended November 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.6bn, up 2% from the year ended November 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings – $1.5bn (-1.8%).
• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.5bn (-15%).
• Storage buildings – $1.5bn (+20%).