Small rise in November consents

There was a 3.2% increase in the number of new homes consented for the year ended November 2022, compared with the year ended November 2021

For the year ended November 2022, there were 50,209 new homes consented, which included 28,364 multi-unit homes. That figure is a 3.2% increase compared with the year ended November 2021 and constitutes 21,064 townhouses, flats and units (+32% compared to year ended Nov 2021), 4,325 apartments (+2%) and 2,975 retirement village units (+7.6%).

Townhouses, flats, units and retirement villages broke annual records in the year ended November 2022.

“Over the past five years, the number of townhouses, flats, and units consented has more than tripled, growing from 6,370 in the year ended November 2018 to 21,064 in the year ended November 2022,” Construction and Property Statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

“This increase was dominated by the Auckland region, which consented more townhouses, flats and units than the rest of the country combined over this period.”

Demand for multi-unit housing is continuing to drive high home consent numbers, added Heslop.

“The annual number of multi-unit homes consented surpassed stand-alone houses in March 2022 and continues to drive the overall increase in the number of new homes consented.”

On the other hand, the number of stand-alone houses consented fell 15% to 21,845 in the year ended November 2022, compared with the year ended November 2021.

Regional record breaking

Auckland (+6.6% to 21,733), Canterbury (+18% to 8,873), and Wellington (+4.7% to 3,805) led the regions in terms of new homes consented in the year ended November 2022.

There were also records broken in three regions for the annual number of new homes consented in the year November 2022. Canterbury, Northland (1,557) and Tasman (676) all set new highs.

In November 2022, there were 4,649 new dwelling consented, which comprised 1,837 stand-alone houses, 1,827 townhouses, flats and units, 535 apartments and 450 retirement village units.

The number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents across New Zealand has increased for the year ended November 2022 and stands at 9.8, compared with 9.5 for the year ended November 2021.

Canterbury (13.5), Auckland (12.8), Tasman (11.5) and Otago (10) consented the most per 1,000 residents for the year ended November 2022 – while Gisborne (3.2), Southland (4.4) and Hawke’s Bay (4.5) consented the least.

Non-residential building consents up

In the year ended November 2022, non-residential building consents totalled $9.4bn, up 13% from the year ended November 2021. The building types with the highest value were:

• Offices, administration and public transport buildings – $1.7 billion (up 64%).
• Storage buildings – $1.5bn (up 52%).
• Education buildings – $1.5bn (up 2.4%).