Annual August consents at three-year low

The number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2024 is the lowest it’s been over the same 12-month cycle since the year ended August 2021

There were 33,632 new homes consented in the year ended August 2024, a decrease of 20.1% compared with the year ended August 2023.

“The number of multi-unit homes consented in the year ended August 2024 is the lowest in the last three years,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

In the year ended August 2024, there were 15,597 stand-alone houses consented (-9.7% compared the year ended August 2023) and 18,035 multi-unit homes consented (-27.4%).

Of the 18,035 multi-unit homes, there were 14,608 townhouses, flats and units (-19.6% compared with the year ended August 2023), 1,704 apartments (-55.2%) and 1,723 retirement village units (-40.3%).

“The number of apartments consented in the year ended August 2024 is the lowest in 10 years,” Heslop said.

Month-on-month reduction

The month of August 2024 saw 2,881 new homes consented compared with 3,170 in the month ended August 2023 (- 9.1%).

Of those, 1,422 were stand-alone houses, compared with 1,243 in the month of August 2023 (+14.4%).

There were 1,459 multi-unit homes consented in August 2024, compared with 1,927  in August 2023 (- 24.3%).

Of the multi-unit homes, there were 1,137 townhouses, flats and units (-23.1%), 47 apartments (-66.2%) and 275 retirement village units (-11.3%).

One regional outlier

Only one region, Otago, consented more dwellings in the year ended August 2024 compared to the previous year (2,130; +1.8%).

The four regions with the most consents issued were Auckland (13,748; -23.6%), Canterbury (6,713; -9.4%), Waikato (2,942; -26.1%) and Wellington (1,982; -39.3%).

Consents down per 1,000 residents

In terms of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents, the figures for the year ended August 2024 declined compared with the year ended August 2023 (6.3 vs 8.1).

Three regions consented above national levels: Auckland (7.9), Otago (8.4) and Canterbury (10.1)

Non-residential building consents down

In the year ended August 2024, non-residential building consents totalled $9.1bn, down 7.9% from the year ended August 2023. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.8bn (+26%).
• Storage buildings – $1.4bn (-5.9%).
• Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings – $1.3bn (-22%).