Annual consent growth streak continues through March 

New home consent numbers continued rising in the year ended March 2026, with annual growth extending to eight consecutive months 

In total, 37,813 new homes were consented in the year ended March 2026 – an increase of 11% compared with the year March 2025. This included 20,369 multi-unit homes (up 12.6%) and 17,444 stand-alone homes (up 9.2%).    

Of the multi-unit homes consented, there were 16,407 townhouses, flats and units (+14.1% compared with the year ended March 2025), 2,237 apartments (+6.1%) and 1,725 retirement village units (+8.1%).       

In the month of March 2026, there were 3,677 new dwellings consented – an increase of 8.2% compared to March 2025. This number comprised 1,948 stand-alone houses (-3.8%), 1,556 townhouses, flats and units (+7.2%), 127 retirement village units (+64.9%) and 265 apartments (-46.5%).  

Regions seeing gains 

Ten regions consented more dwellings in the year ended March 2026 compared to the previous year. Southland recorded the biggest increase with 449 (+38.2%), followed by Nelson with 308 (+37.5%), Canterbury with 8,029 (+20.7%), Gisborne with 201 (+19.6%), Auckland with 15,985 (+13.8%), Otago with 2,751 (+7.6%), Northland with 753 (+5.5%), Wellington with 1,965 (+3.8%), Waikato with 2,977 (+3.5%) and Tasman, which consented 299 (+1.7%). 

The four regions with the most consents issued were:        

• 15,985 in Auckland (+13.8%).   

• 8,029 in Canterbury (+20.7). 

• 2,977 in Waikato (+3.5%). 

• 2,751 in Otago (+7.6%). 

Auckland and Canterbury also led annual new dwelling consents in the years ended January and February 2026. Their March results capped off a strong first quarter, with the two regions recording the highest number of dwelling consents in each of the first three months of 2026. 

Increased consents per 1,000 residents     

The number of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents increased to 7.1 for the year ended March 2026, compared to 6.4 in the year ended March 2025.     

Three regions consented above national levels: Canterbury (11.5), Otago (10.8) and Auckland (8.8).  

Slight increase in non-residential building consents 

In the year ended March 2026, non-residential building consents totalled $9.0bn, up 1.2% from the year ended March 2025. This series can be influenced by price changes – non-residential construction prices (as measured by the capital goods price index) were up 1.5 percent in the year ended December 2025. 

• Offices, administration, and public transport buildings – $1.8bn (+5.3%).    

• Education buildings – $1.4bn (+16%). 

• Factories – $1.3bn (+3.6%).