September 17th, 2024
New Zealand witnessed a decline in the number of new homes consented over the past year, according to In the latest figures released by Stats NZ.
A total of 42,110 new homes were consented in the year leading up to August 2023. This indicates a drop of 17% in comparison to the numbers for the year ended August 2022.
“This figure continues the downward trend from the peak of 51,015 in the year ended May 2022,” Anna Howe, the construction and property statistics manager of Stats NZ said.
She also emphasised that the number for the year ended August 2023 remains higher than any other 12-month period before 2021.
The data further breaks down the consents: 17,267 stand-alone houses were consented (down 25% from the previous year), while 24,843 were multi-unit homes, marking a 10% drop. Multi-unit homes encompass townhouses, apartments, retirement village units, and flats. When examining these multi-unit homes, Stats NZ found:
18,158 townhouses, flats, and units (a decrease of 12% from the previous year).
3,801 apartments (a decrease of 7.2%).
2,884 retirement village units (an increase of 2.4%).
Regional data provided further insights. Except for Marlborough, all regions had a reduction in new home consents. The regions with the most consents were Auckland (18,003, down 16%), Canterbury (7,406, down 15%), Waikato (3,981, down 22%), and Wellington (3,267, down 16%).
Focusing on the recent month, August 2023 had a 30% decline in new home consents compared to August 2022, amounting to a total of 3,170. Fewer new homes were consented in each month of 2023 so far, compared with the same month of both 2022 and 2021, says Stats NZ.
With the fluctuating number of consents, particularly for large projects like townhouses and apartment buildings, the monthly figures can be quite variable. In seasonally adjusted terms, August 2023 saw a 6.7% fall from July 2023, coming after a decline of 5.4% in the previous month.
The overarching trend for new home consents reached its zenith in early 2022 and has been on a descent since then, as trend estimates clarified.