New home consents drop 18%

May 2023 saw nearly a fifth less new homes consented compared to the same month last year. It was also down year on year, but similar to 2021 levels 

In May 2023, there were 3,725 new homes consented, which is an 18% reduction compared with the month of May 2022. Of the new homes consented, there were 1,732 townhouses, flats and units (-18% compared with May 2022), 1,643 stand-alone houses (-20%), 225 apartments (+27%) and 125 retirement village units (-26%).

More retirement villages and apartments

There were 45,159 new homes consented in the year ended May 2023 – a drop of 11% compared with the year ended May 2022.

Of the 45,159 new homes consented in the year ended May 2023, the number of stand-alone houses declined by 24% to 18,734 when compared with the year ended May 2022. During the same period, there were 26,425 multi-unit homes consented – a decrease of 0.2% compared to the year ended May 2022.

Of the multi-unit homes consented in the year ended May 2023, there were 19,032 townhouses, flats and units (-3.2% compared with the year ended May 2022), 4,164 apartments (+3.1%) and 3,229 retirement village units (+16%).

“The latest annual number was down from the record high of 51,015 new homes consented in the year ended May 2022, but is at a similar level to the same period in 2021,” said Construction and Property Statistics Manager Michael Heslop.

“The annual number of new townhouses, flats, and units consented fell in May 2023 for the first time since late 2012,” he added.

Overall, there was an 11% drop in the number of dwellings consented in the year ended May 2023, compared with the year ended May 2022.

Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough buck trends

Only three regions consented more dwellings in the year ended May 2023 compared to the year ended May 2022 as Tasman (589 vs 575), Nelson (290 vs 271) and Marlborough (290 vs 263) bucked nationwide trends.

Auckland (19,539, -9.9%), Canterbury (7,917, – 7.2%), Waikato (4,244, -18%) and Wellington (3,421, -12%) consented less than they did in the year ended May 2022.

Regional decline mirrors nationwide drop

In terms of dwellings consented per 1,000 residents, only three regions – Tasman (10 vs 9.8), Marlborough (5.6 vs 5.1) and Nelson (5.3 vs 5) – consented more in the year ended May 2023 compared to the year ended May 2022.

Nationwide, the number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents was 8.8 for the year ended May 2023, compared with 10 in the year ended May 2022.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended May 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.9bn, up 10% from the year ended May 2022. The building types with the highest value were:

• Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings at $1.6bn (up 56%).
• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.6bn (up 14%).
• Education buildings – $1.5bn(up 1.4%).