Building consents issued

Building consent statistics are about the number, floor area, and value of new homes, non-residential buildings, and alterations approved for construction.

Use the open-source tool 7-Zip to decompress the CSV files below.

Key facts

• In November 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented fell 11 percent, after rising 8.5 percent in October 2023.
• In the year ended November 2023, the actual number of new dwellings consented was 38,209, down 24 percent from the year ended November 2022.
• The annual value of non-residential building work consented was $9.6 billion, up 2.0 percent from the year ended November 2022.
• In the year ended November 2023, the number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents was 7.3, compared with 9.8 in the year ended November 2022.

New dwellings consented

In November 2023, there were 2,958 new dwellings consented, comprising:

• 1,462 stand-alone houses
• 1,255 townhouses, flats, and units
• 123 apartments
• 118 retirement village units.

The number of dwellings consented each month can vary significantly due to the timing of large multi-dwelling projects, such as townhouses and apartment buildings.

The seasonally adjusted number of new stand-alone houses consented rose 5.8 percent, after rising 4.8 percent in October 2023.

Regional new dwellings consented

By region, the numbers of new dwellings consented in the year ended November 2023 (compared with the year ended November 2022) were:

• 15,872 in Auckland (down 27 percent)
• 3,589 in Waikato (down 26 percent)
• 2,743 in Wellington (down 28 percent)
• 5,388 in rest of North Island (down 18 percent)
• 7,158 in Canterbury (down 19 percent)
• 3,458 in rest of South Island (down 22 percent).

New dwellings consented per 1,000 residents

The number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents across New Zealand was 7.3 for the year ended November 2023, compared with 9.8 in the year ended November 2022. The record number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents was 13.4 in the year ended December 1973.

National population estimates are updated quarterly, and subnational population estimates are updated annually in October, and are provisional. For more information about estimated resident population see Population.

Non-residential building consents

In the year ended November 2023, non-residential building consents totalled $9.6 billion, up 2.0 percent from the year ended November 2022. This series can be influenced by price changes - non-residential construction prices (as measured by the capital goods price index) were up 6.5 percent in the year ended September 2023.

In the year ended November 2023, the non-residential building types with the highest values were:

• storage buildings at $1.5 billion (down 1.8 percent)
• offices, administration, and public transport buildings at $1.5 billion (down 15 percent)
• hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings at $1.5 billion (up 20 percent).

More data

Use Infoshare for time-series data about building consents:

Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Building consents - BLD

Definitions and metadata

Building consents issued methodology from March 2015 onwards - DataInfo+ provides the general methodology used to produce building consent statistics from March 2015 onwards.

Building consents issued concepts from March 2015 onwards - DataInfo+ provides definitions of terms used in this release.

Building consents issued - DataInfo+ explains limitations of the data and changes over time.

Building consents issued frequently asked questions - DataInfo+ answers some common queries.

Technical enquiries

Angus Crowe
04 931 4111
[email protected]

ISSN 1178-0231

Next release

Building consents issued: December 2023 will be released on 2 February 2024.