High-density housing on rise

The number of new high-density homes consented grew 22 percent in the September 2019 year, reaching 14,492 consented, Stats NZ said today.

High-density or multi-unit homes include apartments, townhouses, flats and units, and retirement village units. Growth of these outpaced that of stand-alone houses, which grew 6.1 percent between the last two September years.

Growth in the number of multi-unit homes helped push the total number of new homes consented to 36,446, up 12.0 percent from the September 2018 year. This is the highest since the October 1974 year, but is still below the record 40,025 new homes consented 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 rise in consents for multi-unit homes continues to be driven by more activity in Auckland, with over 1,000 more multi-unit homes consented there in the past 12 months than in the previous year," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

"More multi-unit homes have been consented in other regions too and are becoming more common in many parts of New Zealand."

"While stand-alone houses still dominate the New Zealand market for new home builds, the gap between stand-alone houses and multi-unit dwellings consented has been getting smaller," Ms McKenzie said.

"In the September 2019 year, 40 percent of all homes consented were apartments, townhouses, flats, units, or retirement village units, compared with a low point of about 15 percent in 2010."

Monthly new homes consented rise in September

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented rose 7.2 percent in September 2019, following a 0.9 percent rise in August 2019.

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