Number of new homes consented has been increasing since the early 2010s
The number of new homes consented per 1,000 residents has been increasing since the early 2010s – with February 2021 recording 7.8 new homes consented per 1,000 residents, according to Stats NZ.
It outlined that the highest number of new homes consented was 13.4 in the year ended December 1973.
Stats NZ construction statistics manager Michael Heslop commented: “Since the home-building low point in the early 2010s after the global financial crisis (GFC), the number of new homes consented for every 1,000 people living in New Zealand has increased year on year.”
Although the number of new homes consented in February 2021 was lower than the figure seen in the 1970s, the average home has changed since then.
At its lowest point in 1975, the average home was around 107 square metres. Now, homes’ total floor area has become bigger, while the number of new homes has remained relatively flat. The median floor area of all new homes consented in 2020 was 144 square metres, down from 148 square metres in 2019. The median floor area was 191 square metres at its peak in 2012, according to Stats NZ.
“Over the last three decades, census results have shown an increase in the proportion of occupied private homes with four or more bedrooms,” Heslop said.
