Annual dwelling consents hit seven-year high

Canterbury and Auckland account for more than half of all consents

A total of 24,680 new dwelling consents were issued in 2014, the highest annual total since 2007 according to Statistics New Zealand’s latest data. Combined, Auckland and Canterbury accounted for 60% of all new dwelling consents.

Led by Auckland (up 1,285 to 7,595; +20%), Canterbury (up 1,549 to 7,308; +27%) and Waikato (up 124 to 2,369; +5.5%) new dwelling consents increased in nine out of the 16 regions from 2013 to 2014. Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Taranaki, Otago and Southland also recorded year-on-year increases.

The total value of all building work consented in 2014 increased 21% to $14.6bn, compared to 2013. Residential building work rose 20% to $9.5bn, and non-residential rose 21% to $5.1bn (including $431m in December.)

Auckland ($1.5bn), Canterbury ($1.5bn), Otago ($219m) and Wellington ($474m) accounted for 73% of non-residential work. Office and administration buildings (up $437m to $1.3bn; + 51%), shops, restaurants and taverns (up $183m to $747m; +33%) and education buildings (up $103m to $655m; 19%) were the three building types with the highest consent values in 2014.

Trend recovers in December

In December, the trend for the number of new dwellings, including apartments, showed signs of increasing after dipping briefly in the middle of the year. Of the 2,199 new dwelling consents issued, 466 (including 235 retirement village units) were for apartments.

After increasing by 10% in November, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwelling consents decreased 2.1% in the final month of the year.

In the regions

In line with the annual trend, Auckland (630) and Canterbury (732) combined for 62% of total new dwelling consents in December and 82% of apartment consents.

Eight out of the 16 regions consented more new dwellings in December 2014 than in December 2013. Canterbury (up 151 to 732; +26%), Wellington (up 65 to 171; +61%) and Bay of Plenty (up 36 to 122; +42%) recorded the largest increases. Northland, Otago, Southland, Taranaki and Tasman also consented more dwellings than the previous December.

The biggest decreases were in Auckland (down 74 to 630; -10%), Hawke’s Bay (down 23 to 31; -51%) and Waikato (down 12 to 192; -6%). The other regions to consent fewer dwellings were Gisborne, Manawatu-Wanganui, Marlborough, Nelson and the West Coast.

Shaky ground

Statistics from the Canterbury region show that since 4 September 2010, $11.5bn dollars worth of building consents have been issued (including 20,372 new dwelling consents). Of that total, $2.5bn or 22% have been identified as earthquake-related, although not all earthquake-related consents can be identified.