Consents continue to fall

The year ended February 2024 saw consents drop by a quarter year-on-year – to 36,276 – when compared to the year ended February 2023

Included in the 36,276 new homes consented in the year ended February 2024 were 20,775 multi-unit homes (-25% vs the year ended Feb 2023) and 15,501 stand-alone homes (-24%).

“Multi-unit homes and stand-alone houses fell by a similar proportion in the year ended February 2024,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“This is in contrast to the year ended February 2023, when the number of multi-unit homes consented increased while stand-alone houses decreased.”

Of the multi-unit homes, there were 16,690 townhouses, flats and units (-16.9%), 2,291 apartments (-49.2%) and 1,794 retirement village units (-45.3%).

Low monthly figures

In the month of February 2024, there were 2,795 new homes consented – a 6% drop compared to the month of February 2023.

“Fewer new homes were consented in February 2024 than in each of the previous five February months [2019-2023],” said Heslop.

“However, the number of new homes consented was still higher than any February month between 1975 and 2018.”

The 2,795 new homes consented includes 1,297 stand-alone homes (-0.5% compared to February 2023) and 1,498 multi-unit homes (-10%). Of the multi-unit homes consented in the month of February 2024, there were 1,159 townhouses, flat and units (-0.3%), 199 apartments (+13%) and 140 retirement village units (-58%).

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented in the month of February 2024 rose 15% compared with January 2024, which follows a fall of 8.6% in January 2024.

Trend busting regions

Only two regions consented more dwellings in the year ended February 2024 compared to the previous year, as Hawke’s Bay (786 vs 785) and Gisborne (196 vs 154) bucked nationwide trends.

Heslop said the post-Cyclone Gabrielle re-building efforts in Gisborne could be the reason for increased consenting activity.

“Gisborne is the only region that has recorded a consistent annual increase in the number of homes consented since the year ended October 2023.”

The four regions with the most consents issued were Auckland (15,254; -27%), Canterbury (6,695; -21%), Waikato (3,349; -28%) and Wellington (2,300; -40%), though all experienced declines compared with the year ended February 2023.

Consents down per 1,000 residents

In terms of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents, the figures for the year ended February 2024 declined compared with the year ended February 2023 (6.9 vs 9.4).

Three regions consented above national levels: Auckland (8.8), Otago (7.7) and Canterbury (10.)

Only two regions consented more homes per 1,000 residents in the year ended February 2024 than the year ended February 2023 – Hawke’s Bay (4.3 vs 4.2) and Gisborne (3.7 vs 2.9).

“The number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents in the Gisborne region has generally been lower than the number for all New Zealand, but this gap has been closing in the last year,” Heslop added.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended February 2024, non-residential building consents totalled $9.9bn, down 3% from the year ended February 2023. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.7bn (-3.9%).
• Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings – $1.5bn (+14%).
• Storage buildings – $1.5bn (-6.1%).