Building consents continued to rise in the year to November, driven by soaring applications for multi-unit dwellings such as apartments, say latest figures from Statistics New Zealand.
There were 50,209 new homes consented for the period, up 3.2% on the same period a year earlier.
Of those, 28,364 were multi-unit homes including apartments and retirement village units, an increase of 24% on the previous year, while the number of standalone homes consented fell 15% to 21,845.
“Home consents remain at high levels mainly due to the continued rise in the number of multi-unit homes being consented,” said construction and property statistics manager Michael Heslop.
“The annual number of multi-unit homes consented surpassed stand-alone houses in March 2022 and continues to drive the overall increase in the number of new homes consented."
For the month of November, total consents of 4649 were down 1% on the same month in 2021, with a fall in standalone house consents outstripping a 10% rise in multi-unit dwellings.
“Over the past five years, the number of townhouses, flats, and units consented has more than tripled, growing from 6,370 in the year ended November 2018 to 21,064 in the year ended November 2022," said Heslop.
“This increase was dominated by the Auckland region, which consented more townhouses, flats and units than the rest of the country combined over this period.”
The total number of home consents in Auckland for the year was 21,733, up 6.6% on a year earlier.
The largest growth was in Canterbury, up 18% to 8873.
