April continues downward trend

There was a 26% decline in the number of new homes consented in the month of April 2023 compared with April 2022 – the third month in a row to drop

April 2023 saw 2,757 homes consented – a large decrease on the 3,719 new homes consented in April 2022. Of the 2,757 new dwellings consented, there were 1,329 townhouses, flats and units, 1,123 stand-alone houses, 157 apartments and 148 retirement village units.

“April 2023 marks the third consecutive month that the number of homes consented has been down by more than 25% when compared with the same month of the previous year,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“The trend for the number of new homes consented peaked in early 2022 and has been decreasing since then.”

New homes down but multi-units remain up

There were 45,962 new homes consented in the year ended April 2023 – a drop of nearly 10% compared with the year ended April 2022.

Of the 45,962 new homes consented, the number of stand-alone houses declined by 23% to 19,138 when compared with the year ended April 2022. During the same period, there were 26,824 multi-unit homes consented – an increase of 4.1% compared to the year ended April 2022.

“The annual number of stand-alone houses consented has been decreasing for most of 2022, but this was largely offset by the growth in multi-unit homes,” said Heslop.

“The easing of multi-unit homes consented in 2023 has contributed to the overall annual decrease.”

Small regions buck the trend

Only three regions consented more dwellings in the year ended April 2023 compared to the year ended April 2022. Tasman (617 vs 569), Marlborough (296 vs 247) and West Coast (244 vs 235) bucked nationwide trends.

The four regions of that consented the largest number of new dwellings in the year ended April 2023 all experienced declines compared with the year ended April 2022.

Auckland (20,029, -6.7%), Canterbury (8,018, – 5.5%) Waikato (4,347, -17%) and Wellington (3,439, -10%) consented less than they did in the year ended April 2022.

Regional decline mirrors nationwide drop

In terms of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents, only three regions – Tasman 10.5 vs 9.7, Marlborough 5.7 vs 4.8 and West Coast 7.5 vs 7.2 – consented more in the year ended April 2023 compared to the year ended April 2022.

There were losses for traditional big hitters Christchurch (12.2 vs 13) and Auckland (11.8 vs 12.7). Nationwide, the number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents was 8.9 for the year ended April 2023, compared with 9.9 in the year ended April 2022.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended April 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.7bn, up 12% from the year ended April 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.8 billion (up 49%).
• Storage buildings – $1.5bn (up 15%).
• Education buildings – $1.4bn (down 2.8%).