Figures reflect building sector's resilience, minister said
The number of new homes consented in New Zealand in the year to September 30, 2021, reached a record-high of 47,331, a 25% increase from the September 2020 year, according to Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ).
During the same period, the number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents hit 9.3, a dramatic increase from 7.4 in the September 2020 year.
By region, the number of new dwelling consents in the same period was:
- 19,886 in Auckland (up 29% from the September 2020 year);
- 4,968 in Waikato (up 23%);
- 3,463 in Wellington (up 13%);
- 7,676 in rest of North Island (up 29%);
- 7,379 in Canterbury (up 31%); and
- 3,950 in rest of South Island (up 10.0%).
Meanwhile, in September only, New Zealand saw 4,483 new dwellings consented, comprising:
- 2,208 stand-alone houses;
- 1,589 townhouses, flats, and units;
- 468 apartments; and
- 218 retirement village units.
In the September 2021 quarter, the seasonally adjusted number of new homes consented in New Zealand rose 2.7% after rising 9.4% in the June 2021 quarter.
Read more: Are New Zealand's regions missing out on high density housing?
Minister for Building and Construction Poto Williams commented that the latest figures proved that the building and construction sector remained resilient despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The groundbreaking levels of demand for residential construction we are currently experiencing paired with strong government investment in infrastructure has meant that the sector has been in a stronger position to front our economic recovery from COVID-19,” Williams said.
“From the last quarter of 2020, the construction sector quickly grew to become one of the major contributors to GDP growth in the country as demand for construction began to pick up.”
The latest dwelling consent figures bring to the spotlight the government's new housing reforms to boost the supply across New Zealand, aiming at least 48,200 and as many as 105,500 new homes to be built in five to eight years.
The new building intensification rules aim to build up to three homes of up to three storeys on most sites without the need for resource consent and bring forward the implementation of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) by at least one year, cutting the red tape that blocks housing development.
“New Zealand's housing shortage is being made worse in our biggest cities by limits on the number and types of houses that can be built. These changes will enable more homes that are attractive to first-home buyers to be built in areas closer to their work, public transport, and community facilities,” Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods said in a statement last month.
