February consents down almost a third

There was a 29% decrease in the number of new homes consented in the month of February 2023 when compared with the month of February 2022

February 2023 saw 2,972 homes consented – a significant decrease on the 4,195 new homes consented in February 2022.

From the 2,972 new dwellings consented, there were 1,303 stand-alone houses, 1,162 townhouses, flats and units, 331 retirement village units and 176 apartments.

“The decrease in the number of homes consented in February 2023 is large when compared with February 2022, which had the highest number of homes consented for any February month on record,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“[However], the number of homes consented in February 2023 is at a similar level to what it was two years ago in February 2021 (3,129).”

Trending down month-on-month

Since reaching a peak in early March 2022 (5,303), the trend for the number of new homes consented per month has been decreasing. In particular, April (3,719) October (3,568) and December (3,457) saw drops from their 2021 numbers.

All regions apart from Bay of Plenty of Marlborough experienced declines – although Heslop added that the weather may have caused the decline.

“Cyclone Gabrielle may have caused some disruption to consent issuance in affected regions in February.

“However, the monthly fall in homes consented was seen across nearly all regions, including those not directly affected by the cyclone.”

For the year ended February 2023, there were 48,257 new homes consented. That figure is a 3.3% decrease compared with the year ended February 2022.

Regional wobbles over past year

Auckland (+0.1% to 20,811), Canterbury (+1.6% to 8,448), and Waikato (-11% to 4,638) led the regions in number of new homes consented in the year ended February 2023.

Wellington (+3.2% to 3,806) also experienced an increase in consent numbers. However, the rest of the North Island (not including Auckland, Waikato or Wellington) was down 17% to 6,361).

The number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents across New Zealand has decreased for the year ended February 2023 and stands at 9.4, compared with 9.8 for the year ended February 2023.

Canterbury (12.9), Auckland (12.3), Tasman (11) and Otago (9.3) consented the most per 1,000 residents for the year ended February 2023 – while Gisborne (3), Southland (4.2) and Hawke’s Bay (4.3) consented the least.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended February 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.6bn, up 13% from the year ended February 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.7 billion (up 63%).
• Storage buildings – $1.6bn (up 33%).
• Education buildings – $1.5bn (up 3.2%).