New dwelling consents dipped in April but remained near their record high

Property

Latest dwelling consent figures suggest the residential building boom is stronger in the North Island and Christchurch than in most of the rest of the South Island

1st Jun 21, 12:00pm by Greg Ninness

There was a slight dip in the number of new homes consented in April although the numbers remain close to their record highs.

According to Statistics New Zealand, 3994 new homes were consented throughout the country in April, down by 224 (-5.3%) compared to the all time record of 4218 consented in March.

The decline in April compared to March was caused by falls in the number of townhouses and stand alone houses consented, while there were increases in the number of apartments and retirement village units consented.

However stand alone houses remain the most popular type of new home by a substantial margin, with 23,547 of them consented in the year to April, followed by 12,876 townhouses and home units, 4237 apartments and 2188 retirement village units.

In the 12 months to the end of April, 42,848 new homes were consented, up 15.2% on the previous 12 months.

Most regions recorded a dip in the number of new homes consented in April compared to March, although consent numbers were flat in Auckland where 1623 new homes were consented in April, barely changed from 1622 consented in March.

On an annual basis, the number of new homes consented in the year to April was up compared to the previous 12 months in all North Island regions plus Canterbury and Tasman, but down in all other South Island regions, suggesting the residential building boom is stronger in the North Island and Christchurch than it is in the rest of the South Island.

The total construction value of new residential consents issued in the year to April was $15.842 billion, up 16.3% on the previous 12 months.

On top of that, consents for another $2.083 billion of residential alteration work were issued, up 5.0% on the previous 12 months.

That took the total value of all residential consents issued in the year to April to $17.925 billion, up 14.9% on the previous year.

The interactive charts below show the monthly trend in the number of residential building consents issued in each region, and in the types of dwellings consented each month.

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Building consents - residential

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Source: Statistics NZ

Building consents - type

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Source: Statistics NZ

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12 Comments

by Uncle Bulgaria | 1st Jun 21, 12:11pm 1622506286

Good. Keep em coming. Poor mother in law just got quoted 450 grand for earthworks so she could build a granny flat at top of her path with a cable car down to the big house. Half a million for earthworks!! Go NZ.

by realterms | 1st Jun 21, 1:34pm 1622511266

With a cable car!? Might be some pretty serious earthworks there.

by Uncle Bulgaria | 1st Jun 21, 2:21pm 1622514117

No cable car. Just moving the earth. It is a 60 metre path and it also includes landscaping the garden but tbh I just think they don’t want to do it. She struggled to even get a quote, poor thing.

by Final Account | 2nd Jun 21, 12:24pm 1622593446

50% engineer and council fees i imagine, maybe even higher.

Obviously with some margin in there for the contractor too.

by b21 | 1st Jun 21, 12:33pm 1622507591

In 2019 the drop in April was of almost 23%, 2018 7%, this year just over 5% and still close to record numbers.

Historically this is the best April month when it comes to building consents ever.

by mikekirk29 | 1st Jun 21, 1:05pm 1622509515

Consents often do not lead to a sale purchase for 2 years or more.
Over 50% of what is currently OTM for sale as a house or townhouse, in Orewa, Silverdale, Millwater is in fact not built yet or not finished. On RE NZ in general the % is abut 27-33%.
As an indication of where buying and selling part of "market" are right now, I use a moving metric of what the March/April sales are running above the Jan/Feb sales. In 2019 it was running 48% ahead. In 2021 it is only 35% ahead. That is for whole of Auckland. Hence the summer bounce was not what it should have been. this is not greatly surprising since the autumn and winter were utterly unseasonal in sales terms. Reversion to the mean is happening, in sales terms.

For more detail of the bell curve mania that peaked end of December 2020:

July - Sept sales in 2020 were 49% ahead of 2019 for same period
Oct-Dec sales were 65% ahead of previous year
Jan-Mar sales in 2021 were 46.7% ahead of prev year

March and April sales, although impressive in 2021, were a much lower % better than they ought to have been, if you compare them to Jan-Feb. Each year increases for March, as expected. But in 2019 it increased 48% and in 221 only 35%. The air is coming-out of the balloon inflated by the RB last May. Winter in 2021, we can be assured, is NOT going to match that of 2020. Fewer buyers means less pressure for price rises.

by b21 | 1st Jun 21, 3:21pm 1622517692

Talked to a builder in one of the areas you mention and he said he was expecting some new sections around September, which should end up in new builds around March-May next year, maybe add an extra month for the resource consent but definitely less than 2years.

by mikekirk29 | 1st Jun 21, 7:53pm 1622534021

No doubt some are built in that time span. But my recorded info from 2017-19 was that a hell of a lot of them sat on RE NZ for a LONG time without selling.
Increasingly, the listings on RE NZ will be made up of these "phantom" houses.

by Penfold | 1st Jun 21, 3:42pm 1622518952

So. Taking latest 12 month figures.

Population increase: 33,000
Building Consents: 42,848
Code of Compliance certificates (CCC's), Auckland only. 12,497

I wonder what the actual starting housing shortage was.
There must be an interesting story and graph, especially the graph ... , you guys could make.

Population: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/national-population-esti…

Code of Compliance certificates (CCC's), Auckland only: https://www.interest.co.nz/property/109943/aucklands-residential-buildi…

by Squishy | 2nd Jun 21, 3:07am 1622560045

Few believe last year will be representative of next year in terms of immigration and population, both of which have been artificially lowered. Almost certainly you'll see numbers normalise when the border situation is normalised.

by Groat | 2nd Jun 21, 1:58pm 1622599112

The border won't normalise for several years now. COVID cannot be allowed in at this point. Even if everyone is vaccinated due to less than 100% efficacy. This is the path Jacinda chose but can she keep on it as the economy is decimated?

by Squishy | 2nd Jun 21, 3:02am 1622559777

Given the cost of materials I'm surprised how well consents are holding up.