45-year high for new home consents

The number of new homes consented reached 37,010 in the year ended November 2019, the highest in a year since the mid-1970s, Stats NZ said today.

"For the first time in 45 years, the annual number of new homes consented rose to over 37,000," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

There were 37,919 new homes consented in the year ended September 1974, while the overall record is still 40,025 in the February 1974 year.

The population of New Zealand in the mid-1970s was around 3 million, compared with about 4.9 million today.

The number of new homes has been generally increasing since late 2011, coming off lows in 2009 and 2011 when fewer than 14,000 new homes were consented annually.

Nationally, 13 percent more new homes were consented in the November 2019 year compared with a year ago, reaching 14,866 in Auckland, 4,176 in Waikato, and 5,310 in Canterbury.

Canterbury consented 14 percent more new homes than in the previous November year. Although this level is below the 2014 peak, it is still higher than the level before earthquake rebuild activities.

Wellington region consented 3,036 new homes in the latest year, the highest annual number since over 4,000 new homes were consented in the mid-1970s.

Across the 16 New Zealand regions, only three (Northland, Nelson, and Marlborough) consented slightly fewer new homes in the November 2019 year than in the previous year.

Seasonally adjusted fall in monthly new homes consented

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented fell in the last two months - down 8.5 percent in November 2019 from October 2019 when it fell 1.3 percent. These falls followed a 7.0 percent seasonally adjusted rise in September 2019.

The number of homes consented each month can vary significantly due to timing of large multi-dwelling projects, such as townhouses and apartment buildings. We recommend focusing on annual results when looking at changes over time.