Increase in consents impacted certain inspections
The Waikato district is experiencing a dramatic increase in new homes, with the Waikato District Council reportedly receiving nearly a 27% increase in building consent applications
Sue O’Gorman, the customer support general manager at Waikato District Council, stated that building consent applications in the district increased from 1,914 in 2019/2020 to 2,430 in 2020/2021 – more than 200 a month on average.
The new data also represents an increase of 516 (or 27%) in building consent applications and an increase of 319 (or 39.6%) in building applications for dwellings.
“This is positive news as it shows that people want to live or invest in our district, but it does present significant challenges,” O’Gorman said.
According to the council, the increase in building consent applications has impacted the number of pool and Building Warrant of Fitness inspections that must be carried out.
“We do not know what is causing this increase, but it is showing no signs of slowing. Possible explanations include low-interest rates and people continuing to invest their money in real estate,” O’Gorman said.
The council will continue to review the situation and may need to make further changes to the level of service it offers customers.
Read more: Government issues historic-high numbers of annual building consents
The number of building consents is rising across New Zealand, with Statistics New Zealand’s (Stats NZ) latest data revealing that the number of new homes consented in the year ended May 2021 was at an all-time high of 43,466 – a 17% increase from the May 2020 year.
The number of new townhouses, flats, and units consented during the same period reached 1,380 – the highest number since records began in 1990.
Annual dwelling consents in Auckland also soared 28% – bringing the number of dwelling consents issued in the last 12 months to 18,565. In May 2021 alone, Auckland Council issued 1,708 dwelling consents, the highest level for a May month on record.
