The region saw a 33% decrease from the previous year
Wellington saw the highest year-over-year decline among other regions in New Zealand when it comes to the number of new dwellings consented in the year ending November 2024, according to a report by Stats NZ.
With a decrease of 33% from the number seen in the same period last year, Wellington only had 1,839 new dwellings consented. This was followed by Waikato with a 21% decrease amounting to 2,836, Auckland with a 12% decrease amounting to 13,905, Canterbury with a 9.2% decrease amounting to 6,502, and the rest of North Island seeing a 7% decline to 5,009.
Meanwhile, the rest of South Island saw a rise with 3,517 new dwellings consented, showing an increase of 1.7%.
Notably, November 2024 saw the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented rise by 5.3% month-over-month, following the 5.2% decrease seen in October. Year-over-year, the actual number of new dwellings consented reached 33,609 in the year ending November 2024. This was a 12% decrease from the previous year.
Apart from this, the annual value of non-residential building work consented reached $9.4 billion. This was a 1.6% decline from the previous year. The number of new dwellings consented for every 1,000 residents was 6.3, which was a decrease from the 7.3 recorded last year.
The 3,100 new dwellings which consented in November 2024 consisted of 1,437 townhouses, flats, and units, 1,402 stand-alone houses, 186 apartments, and 75 retirement village units. It is worth noting that the number of dwellings consented every month can vary because of the timing of large multi-dwelling projects like townhouses as well as apartments.
When it comes to the seasonally adjusted number of new stand-alone houses consented, there was a 0.7% decrease seen in November 2024, which followed the month-over-month decrease of 6.3%.
Meanwhile, non-residential building consents reached $9.4 billion in the year ending November 2024. This was a 1.6% decrease year-over-year, which could possibly be influenced by price changes as non-residential construction prices increase by 3.2% in the year ending September 2024. The non-residential building types that had the highest values were offices, administration, and public transport buildings as it reached $1.8 billion, which was a 26% increase.
