What consent data shows – and what it doesn’t 

Building consent figures are often used as an indicator of future housing activity but they don’t show whether consented homes are ultimately completed 

While a building consent approves proposed building work before construction begins, a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) confirms the completed work complies with the building consent. 

For that reason, CCC data provides a measure of dwelling completions. 

Auckland offers comparison data 

National and regional building consent figures are published by Stats NZ but comparable CCC data is not widely available. 

Auckland is an exception. Auckland Council publishes monthly figures, showing the number of new dwellings issued CCCs and enabling consent and completion trends to be compared. 

Interest.co.nz compared Auckland’s monthly CCC figures with dwelling consents issued two years earlier, using data from January 2019 to May 2026. 

The comparison was based on what the publication described as “a rule of thumb” that homes take about two years to move from consent to completion. 

Consents and completions diverged 

Interest.co.nz found that consent and CCC numbers tracked relatively closely until mid-2022, with the two data sets following similar trends. 

From mid-2022, however, the number of earlier consents exceeded CCCs. Interest.co.nz linked the change to strong consent growth from 2020 and construction capacity constraints following pandemic restrictions. 

The gap remained until about July 2025, when consent and completion figures returned to broadly similar levels. However, available data does not show how many projects were delayed, cancelled or redesigned. 

Consent numbers rising again 

Stats NZ recorded 16,862 Auckland dwellings consented in the year ended May 2026, an increase of 21.6% compared with the year ended May 2025. 

Auckland Council issued 14,010 CCCs in the year ended April 2026. 

“That suggests Auckland’s residential construction industry is going to have to increase its capacity by around 20% over the next two years if it is to complete all of the homes that are currently in the planning pipeline,” wrote Interest.co.nz journalist Greg Ninness. 

Project timeframes vary 

The two-year comparison provides an indication of the relationship between consents and completions, although not every project follows the same timeframe. 

Of the 1,061 Auckland dwellings that were issued CCCs in April 2026, 828 had received building consent within the previous two years. 

Another 186 had been consented between two and four years earlier, while 47 had been consented more than four years earlier. 

That means 22% of the dwellings receiving CCCs in April 2026 had taken more than two years to reach completion. 

Housing mix also changing 

Auckland Council recorded 1,683 dwellings consented in April 2026. 

That included 551 houses, 385 apartments and 747 townhouses, flats, units, retirement village units and other attached dwellings. 

Apartments and other attached housing accounted for about two-thirds of all dwellings consented during the month.