Auckland drives November consent increase

A glut of new apartment projects pushed new dwelling consents to near-record levels for the City of Sails

 A total of 3,262 new dwellings were consented in November last year, including 1,870 houses and 543 apartments.

Eight out of ten of those apartments were in Auckland, pushing the total new dwellings consented in the region to 1,450 – the second-highest ever.

Stats NZ construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said it’s the highest recorded total since October 2002, when nearly 2,000 new homes were consented due to a much larger spike in apartments.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented nationally rose 11% in November, following a 10% fall in October.

“November is typically the month with the highest number of new homes consented, as people try to get plans approved before Christmas,” Ms McKenzie said. “Looking at the longer-term picture, building consents for apartments and town houses have seen double-digit growth year after year, while consents for stand-alone houses have levelled off.”

In the 12 months to 30 November 2017, consents were issued for 31,123 new dwellings (including 3,137 apartments) compared to the 30,399 (2,692 apartments) consented in the previous corresponding period.

In the regions

Eight out of the 16 regions consented more new dwellings in November 2017 compared to November 2016, led by Auckland (up 262 to 1,450; +22%), Wellington (up 92 to 224; +70%) and Otago (up 37 to 198; +23%). Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and West Coast were the other regions to consent more new dwellings.

Waikato (down 44 to 296; -13%), Canterbury (down 37 to 422; -8%) and Southland (down 25 to 24; -51%) consented fewer new dwellings, followed by Manawatu-Wanganui, Nelson, Northland, Taranaki and Tasman.

Non-residential

In the year ended November 2017, non-residential building consents totalled $6.6bn – up 11% from the November 2016 year.

The non-residential building types with the highest values were:

• Offices, administration, and public transport buildings – $1.3bn (up 11% from the November 2016 year).
• Education buildings – $1.1bn (down 6.4%).
• Shops, restaurants, and bars – $796m (up 4.2%).
• Storage buildings – $781m (up 12%).