December quarter sets new consenting record

Stats NZ has confirmed 11,291 new homes were consented in the December 2020 quarter, surpassing the previous record set in December 1973

The previous quarterly record, set in December 1973, saw 10,713 new homes consented. There were 11,291 homes consented in December 2020 quarter, beating the long-standing record by more than 500 consented homes.

Michael Heslop, the Construction Statistics Manager noted that “if the rate of new homes consented continues like the December 2020 quarter, we could possibly see the annual figures surpass those from the 1970s”.

However, he also noted that if population size is taken into account, the figures from the 1970s are still much higher.

For the year ended December 2020, the total number of new dwellings consented was 39,420 — up 4.8% from the year ended December 2019. This consisted of 22,212 houses, 3739 apartments, 1866 retirement village units, and 11,603 townhouses, flats, and units.

This equates to 7.8 homes per 1,000 residents. The current homes-per-resident record remains the December 1973 year, at 13.4. The discrepancy is due to the increase in population since the mid-1970s when it was around 3m, compared with about 5m today.

Monthly increase for December 2020

In total, 3751 new dwellings were consented in the month of December – an increase of 4.9% from   November when accounting for seasonality.

The December figures comprised of 1917 standalone houses; 1241 townhouses, flats, and units; 443 apartments; and 150 retirement village units.

Ten of the 16 regions consented more dwellings in December 2020 compared to December 2019, led by Auckland (up 363 to 1589; + 29.6%), Bay of Plenty (up 162 to 304; +114%) and Canterbury (up 103 to 500; +25.9%).    Northland, Waikato, Taranaki, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wellington, Nelson and Southland also showed an increase in consented dwellings.

Six of the remaining regions saw a decrease in dwellings consented over the same period, led by Otago (down 23 to 155; -12.9%), Tasman (down 14 to 25; – 35.9%), and Marlborough (down 11 to 21; -34.4%).  Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and the West Coast also recorded decreases.

Non-residential building consents down

In the year ended December 2020, non-residential building consents totalled $7.0 bn, down 5.5% from the December 2019 year. The building types with the highest value were:

• Education buildings – $1.2bn (up 12%)
• Storage buildings – $1.2bn (up 33%)
• Offices, administration, and public transport buildings –  $960m (down 4.2%)