April consents up 52% 

The annual increase in new home consent numbers continued in April, marking nine consecutive months of year-on-year growth  

In total, 39,078 new homes were consented in the year ended April 2026 – an increase of 16% compared with the year April 2025. This included 21,187 multi-unit homes (up 19.1%) and 17,900 stand-alone homes (up 13.5%).  

“More than half of the annual growth came from multi-unit homes, such as apartments, townhouses, flats, and retirement village units,” economic indicators spokesperson Michelle Feyen said. 

Of the multi-unit homes consented, there were 16,832 townhouses, flats and units (+18.6% compared with the year ended April 2025), 2,656 apartments (+27.1%) and 1,699 retirement village units (+13.0%).  

In the month of April 2026, there were 3,692 new dwellings consented – an increase of  52.7% compared to April 2025. This number comprised 1,604 stand-alone houses (+39.7%), 1,530 townhouses, flats and March 2026’s month-on-month increase of 8.2% compared to the same month in 2025. 

 

 

Regions on the up 

Thirteen of the country’s 18 regions consented more dwellings in the year ended April 2026 compared to the previous year. Nelson recorded the biggest increase with 319 (+43.0%), followed by Southland with 444 (+32.9%), Canterbury with 8,386 (+28.9%), Auckland with 16,687 (+21.4%), Gisborne with 201 (+18.2%), Wellington with 2,117 (+13.3%), Tasman with 317 (+11.2%), Marlborough with 200 (+7.0%), Waikato with 3,063 (+6.3%), Otago with 2,733 (+3.2%), Bay of Plenty with 1,546 (+3.2%), Hawke’s Bay with 685 (+2.9%) and Northland, which consented 734 (+1.0%). 

The four regions with the most consents issued were:         

• 16,687 in Auckland (+21.4%). 

• 8,386 in Canterbury (+28.9%). 

• 3,063 in Waikato (+6.3%).  

• 2,733 in Otago (3.2%). 

 

 

Increased consents per 1,000 residents      

The number of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents increased to 7.3 for the year ended April 2026, compared to 6.3 in the year ended April 2025.     

Three regions consented above national levels: Canterbury (12), Otago (10.8) and Auckland (9.2).  

Non-residential building consents fall 

In the year ended April 2026, non-residential building consents totalled $8.9bn, down 0.4% from the year ended April 2025. This series can be influenced by price changes – non-residential construction prices (as measured by the capital goods price index) were up 1.6 percent in the year ended March 2026. The building types with the highest value were: 

• Offices, administration, and public transport buildings – $1.6bn (-8.9%). 

• Education buildings – $1.3bn (+8.6%). 

• Storage buildings – $1.2bn (-7.2%).