Home consents up in August 2025

Stand-alone and multi-unit consents experienced an increase across New Zealand, supporting a 1.3% rise in annual home consents for the year ended August 2025 

In total, 34,078 new homes were consented in the year ended August 2025 – an increase of 1.3% compared with the year ended August 2024.  

This was driven by an increase in both stand-alone and multi-unit consents over the same period, with 18,323 multi-unit homes consented (up 1.6%) and 15,775 stand-alone homes consented (up 1%).  

“The number of homes consented has started to pick up in both monthly and annual terms, but is still down one-third from its peak in mid-2022,” economic indicators spokesperson Michelle Feyen said. 

“The uptick in consented homes has been driven partly by multi-unit developments in Auckland and Otago.” 

Of the multi-unit homes consented, there were 14,503 townhouses, flats and units (-0.7% compared with the year ended August 2024), 2,479 apartments (+45.5%) and 1,341 retirement village units (-22.2%).   

In the month of August 2025, there were 3,080 new dwellings consented (+6.9% compared to August 2024), comprising 1,492 stand-alone houses (+4.9%), 1,199 townhouses, flats and units (+5.5%), 133 retirement village units (-51.6%) and 256 apartments (+444.7%).   

Regional outliers    

Five regions consented more dwellings in the year ended August 2025 compared to the previous year. Nelson recorded the biggest increase with 258 (+23.4%), followed by Otago with 2,473 (+16.1%), Auckland with 14,495 (+5.4%), Southland with 351 (+4.2%), and Wellington, which consented 1,995 (+0.7%).  

The four regions with the most consents issued were:    

• 14,495 in Auckland (+5.4%).    

• 6,599 in Canterbury (-1.7%).    

• 2,813 in Waikato (-4.4%).    

• 2,473 in Otago (+16.1%).     

Consents per 1,000 residents unchanged  

The number of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents remained unchanged at 6.4 for the year ended August 2025, matching the rate recorded in the year ended August 2024.  

Three regions consented above national levels: Otago (9.8), Canterbury (9.6) and Auckland (8.1).     

Non-residential building consents down    

In the year ended August 2025, non-residential building consents totaled $8.7bn, down 5.4% from the year ended August 2024. This series can be influenced by price changes – non-residential construction prices (as measured by the capital goods price index) were up 1.6% in the year ended June 2025. The building types with the highest value were:    

• Offices, administration, and public transport buildings – $1.5bn (-16%). 

• Storage buildings – $1.3bn (-1.5%). 

• Factories – $1.3bn (+11%).