Three regions saw highest annual number
The number of new homes consented across New Zealand increased by 20% in the year ended July 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ).
Stats NZ’s latest data revealed 45,119 new homes consented in the country in the July 2021 year, with dwelling consents having risen across all regions except Marlborough and Otago.
“The annual number of new homes consented rose across the North Island, led by a 29% rise in Auckland in the July 2021 year. In Canterbury, the annual number of new homes consented rose 19%, while they decreased 1.1% across the rest of the South Island,” said Michael Heslop, the construction statistics manager at Stats NZ.
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By region, the numbers of new homes consented in the year ended July 2021 (compared with the July 2020 year) were:
- 19,158 in Auckland (up 29%);
- 4,751 in Waikato (up 15%);
- 2,496 in Bay of Plenty (up 24%);
- 3,268 in Wellington (up 4.6%);
- 15,408 in North Island excluding Auckland (up 17%);
- 6,811 in Canterbury (up 19%);
- 2,063 in Otago (down 8.5%); and
- 3,734 in South Island excluding Canterbury (down 1.1%).
Heslop noted that the year ended July 2020 included the COVID-19 level 4 lockdown period in late March and April, which disrupted consent issuance across many territorial authorities.
Meanwhile, the annual number of homes consented per 1,000 residents rose to 8.8 in the year ended July 2021, up from 7.4 in the year ended July 2020. The highest annual number of homes consented was in the Auckland (11.2), Canterbury (10.5), and Tasman (10.4) regions.
Stats NZ clarified that the national COVID-19 level 4 lockdown that came into force at 11:59pm on August 17 did not impact the data. However, building consents issued by some territorial authorities in August 2021 and future months may be disrupted.
