Canterbury boom continues at pace

Canterbury sets a new annual record for homes consented in the year ended August 2022, with a 23% increase compared to the year ended August 2021

The region also led the way for the number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents in the year ended August 2022 with 13.4.

With 8,691 homes consented in the year ended August 2022, Canterbury beat the record of 8,623 new homes that it set for the year ended June 2022.

Nationally, the number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2022 was up 8.9% – to 50,653 – compared  with the year ended August 2021.

“Homes were consented at high levels in most regions, particularly in Canterbury which reached a new annual record,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“[Again], the increase in the number of homes consented was largely driven by multi-unit homes.”

There were 27,593 multi-unit homes consented in the year ended August 2022 – an increase of 30% compared with the year ended August 2021 – when 23,060 were consented. 

In the month of August 2022, 4,547 new dwellings were consented nationally. Of these, there were 1,927 stand-alone houses, 1,771 townhouses, flats and units, 441 retirement village units and 408 apartments.

North and South Island records

Canterbury wasn’t the only region to set a record for the highest number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2022. Northland (1,549) and Southland (485) also bettered previous bests.

“The number of homes consented in Canterbury in the year ended August 2022 is now well above the post-earthquake rebuild peak of 7,308, [set] in the year ended December 2014,” said Heslop.

There has also been a 1.6% seasonally adjusted fall in the number of new homes consented in the month of August 2022 compared with July 2022, which follows a seasonally adjusted rise of 4.9% in July 2022. 

High volume of consents

Rounding out the top four regions by number of new homes consented in the year ended August 2022 is Auckland with 21,463 (up 7.7%), Wellington with 3,875 (up 18%) and Waikato with 5,076 (up 3%).

Canterbury consented the highest number of homes per 1,000 residents in the year ended August 2022 with 13.4 Auckland (12.5), Tasman (10.4) and Otago (10.2) hot on its heels.

New homes consented per 1,000 residents across New Zealand was 9.9, up from 9.1 in the year ended August 2022.

Non-residential building consents resume

In the year ended August 2022, non-residential building consents totalled $9.2bn, up 14% from the year ended August 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Education buildings – $1.6bn (up 16%).
• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.5 bn (up 42%).
• Storage buildings – $1.4bn(up 37%).