New dwelling consents continue to fluctuate

Auckland new dwelling consents fall due to apartment slump

The number of new dwellings consented is still on track to eclipse last year’s total, despite a volatile start to the year.

Statistics New Zealand’s latest data shows that 2,361 new dwellings were consented in April, up 12% on the same month last year. Seasonally adjusted, the number of new dwelling consents increased 6.6% from March, following a 9.7% fall.

The April total included 1,742 houses and just 25 apartments. The seasonal trend for houses alone rose 15% from March to April.

Despite the month-to-month fluctuations, just over 3,000 more new dwellings have been consented in the 12 months to April compared to the corresponding period last year. 

In the regions

The number of dwellings consented rose in 11 out of the 16 regions in April 2016 compared to April 2015.

Canterbury benefited from a jump in retirement village units to lead the regions (up 229 to 656; +54%), with Bay of Plenty (up 58 to 176; +49%) and Northland (up 57 to 103; +124%) rounding out the top three.

It’s the first time in seven years that more than 100 new dwellings have been consented in New Zealand’s northern-most region. Other regions to record an increase were Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, Otago, Southland, Tasman, Waikato and Wellington. 

Auckland was hit hard by the slump in apartments, recording the largest decrease (down 213 to 699; -23%), followed by Nelson (down seven to 11; -39%) and the West Coast (down four to nine; -44%). Marlborough and Taranaki recorded no change. All building consents valued at $1.4 billion.

The total value of all building work consented in April was $1.4bn, made up of $948m of residential work and $459m of non-residential.

For the year ended April 2016, compared with the year ended April 2015, the value of buildings consented increased for:

All buildings – up $2.1bn (+14%) to $17bn.

Residential buildings – up $1.5bn (+16%) to $11bn.

Non-residential buildings – up $568m (+11%) to $5.9bn.