Construction industry continues to break records with almost $30 billion of building work consented last year

Property / news

New housing boom continues with nearly 49,000 new homes consented in 2021

4th Feb 22, 12:02pm by Greg Ninness

The number of new homes being consented continues to run at record levels, with 48,899 dwellings consented last year, according to Statistics New Zealand.

And the numbers are continuing to rise.

The 48,899 new homes consented in 2021 was up 24% from 2020 and up 63% compared to 2016.

However the rate of growth appears to be slowing, with 12,859 new homes consented in the fourth quarter of last year, up a comparatively modest 11.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

Much of the growth over the last five years has occurred in Auckland, with consents for new dwellings more than doubling from 10,026 in 2016 to 20,529 in 2021.

In percentage terms the biggest growth last year was in retirement village units, with 2856 consented in 2021, up 53.1% compared to 2020.

Townhouses and home units had the second highest growth with 16,327 consented last year, up 40.7% compared to 2020.

However standalone houses remain the most popular type of dwelling by a substantial margin, with 25,564 consented last year, up 15.1% from 2020.

And the popularity of apartments may be waning slightly with 4152 apartment units consented last year.

Although that was up 11% from 2020, it was still down 12.8% compared to the peak of 4762 apartments that were consented in 2019.

The total construction value, excluding land, of new dwellings consented last year was $18.783 billion, up 29.2% compared to 2020.

On top of that consents were issued for a further $2.407 billion of structural alteration work to existing dwellings last year, up 24.4% compared to 2020.

That took the total value of residential construction work consented last year to $21.19 billion, up 28.7% compared to 2020.

Non-residential construction, which includes buildings such as offices, shops and factories, also had strong growth last year with $8.19 billion of work consented, up 16.2% compared to 2020.

That followed a decline of 5.5% in the value of non-residential building consents issued in 2020.

That took the total value of all types of building work consented last year to $29.881 billion, up 24.1% from 2020.

The interactive graphs below show the trends in the number of residential consents issued in each region and the trends in the types of dwellings being consented.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

Building consents - residential

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Source: Statistics NZ

Building consents - type

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Source: Statistics NZ

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59 Comments

by Uh Oh | 4th Feb 22, 12:29pm 1643930986

How are we progressing with training for tradies?

Everybody thinks you need a degree to succeed which is simply untrue

We need skilled labour to build the things we need and to value the people who do it

by xingmowang | 4th Feb 22, 12:47pm 1643932039

building a house in NZ requires very little skills. ppl who can put together a lego can build a house.

building rockets or satellites require skills.

by Brock Landers | 4th Feb 22, 1:45pm 1643935516

Depends on whether you want Chinese levels of workmanship or something more towards the quality end of the spectrum.

by linklater01 | 4th Feb 22, 2:03pm 1643936604

Brock,

Are you saying that all the leaky buildings in NZ were put up by Chinese? No they weren't. Most of them were designed and built by good old Kiwis, then signed off by yet more good old No. 8 wire Kiwis. This country should be ashamed.

I have lost count of the apartment blocks i have seen in Tauranga/Mt. Maunganui covered in plastic for 'remediation'. You might find it interesting to look at the Wikipedia entry for The Leaky Home Crisis. In 2008 PWC produced a report with an estimate of $11.30 billion for some 42,000 buildings. Others put the figures much higher.

Apart from that little issue-i know people whose lives have been badly affected by this-Newshub did a report in Dec. with the title; New Zealand homes cold, mouldy, poor housing worsening mental health issues.

The Chinese had f..... all do do with this.

by HouseMouse | 4th Feb 22, 3:10pm 1643940642

The quality of workmanship in this country, whatever the ethnicity, is garbage.

Obviously there's the occasional exception to this rule.

by northman46 | 4th Feb 22, 3:47pm 1643942865

Exactly. The nails protruding down into my bathroom ceiling are a daily reminder of the "she'll be right" attitude.

by Hamish | 4th Feb 22, 3:59pm 1643943598

Four nice shiny concrete pads in the village here.

Stacks of framing dropped off earlier in the week. Three lots nice and flat on the pads. One house lot (2 bundles) left on uneven dirt and it's about to pi55 down all weekend. Wonder whether the builder when they eventually start will send it back or just use it.

by Sluggy | 5th Feb 22, 8:17am 1644002254

Its usual practice to have to plumb all frames. Even the framing left on the flat will move with moisture, be it rain or humidity.

by PocketAces | 5th Feb 22, 9:15am 1644005744

Not to mention the absolutely shabby quality of things like cabinetry where the hinges break within a couple of years, , chrome tapwear that is, in reality, no better than ironed on tinfoil, cabinet handles etc that the surface bubbles, toilets that stain and the porcelain breaks down around the water line, basins made from composite materials that stain and break down around the plughole where the water sits, paint jobs that look like the paint was watered down so much, it ended up nothing but paint stained water, the stainless steel of kitchen sinks of such poor quality, it begins life stained and never looks clean..

I could go on and on from the top to the bottom, but people probably are too busy earning the deposit for these $1million houses that will need extensive renovations in 10 years, if it is even worth doing

by JustAnOpinion | 4th Feb 22, 3:48pm 1643942907

Yes this is true it was not the Chinese that built our leaky buildings. It was Pacific Islanders, unskilled labour imported in the mid 90's to quickly build our new apartments.

The design was the main problem, with no cavities in the cladding, but the use of un-treated timber (which was allowed to keep up with demand) meant they would have rotted in any case.

by PocketAces | 5th Feb 22, 9:21am 1644006096

Cantilevered decking was a major culprit, no eaves and the fashion for Mediterranean style houses in rainy NZ

by Brock Landers | 4th Feb 22, 4:11pm 1643944302

Nah. What I was saying was that the build quality in dear comrade's home country is truly terrible and that using skilled workers results in higher quality.

But I did enjoy the strawman. Top effort! Gold star!

by RickStrauss | 4th Feb 22, 7:41pm 1643956911

The PwC report only went off plans too - i.e. what plans would have resulted in leaky buildings and the cost of these. Their remit didn't even include what was actually built. Rottenomics highlights the subsequent analysis done that points closer to $50 billion in cost and counting.

by 7jai | 4th Feb 22, 3:26pm 1643941615

NZ, home of racism, stereotypes, and sarcasm.

-7

by JustAnOpinion | 4th Feb 22, 3:50pm 1643943025

lol, no attribution to anything means this is simply the whining of a toddler. Back up your slander with any facts and you might get some support.

by Hamish | 4th Feb 22, 3:56pm 1643943411

Ironic.

by HouseMouse | 4th Feb 22, 8:33pm 1643960022

Where are you from, India? They can be pretty damn racist.

by Nzdan | 5th Feb 22, 12:00pm 1644015600

Yes, but it is only acceptable to label anglo-saxons racist

by VTHO | 4th Feb 22, 2:18pm 1643937496

I've seen some houses put together by Chinese builders in NZ. You are correct, they definitely do not have any skills.

by Hardly | 4th Feb 22, 3:51pm 1643943118

Funny you say that. On my sisters house they didn’t overlap the cladding properly. Had to recladd it and throw the old stuff out.

Just to be clear, this response was intended towards the general comment about build quality in New Zealand. I have no idea what the ethnicity of said builders was.

by Jonny_Utah | 4th Feb 22, 4:10pm 1643944242

Mate, I bet you couldn’t even cut a square end!

by Neil21 | 8th Feb 22, 7:00am 1644256826

You are absolutely correct. - BUT only if it's a prefab kitset - of which there are a few in NZ and which do qualify as a genuine QuickBuild.

by Timmyboy | 4th Feb 22, 12:46pm 1643932009

We need to import more skilled labour to build houses for more imported skilled labour.

We need more houses because population growth is unfortunately at the heart of our economic strategy.

by Brick in the machine | 4th Feb 22, 1:13pm 1643933583

Is one of the unfortunate truths with these reports, $30 billion in new consents sounds good, but really, how many houses do this equate too, at what price, where, how many rooms, and what % of the population can afford it is largely ignored.

It's like when the Government talked on how "housing consents haven't been this good since the 1970's", ignoring the fact if you compared population in 1970 (1 million) to todays population (5 million), THEN overlaid consents you would see we are in fact 80% less effective at building than back in the good old days.

If we can't be honest we can't move forward, and it's just all lies.

by kwbrn | 4th Feb 22, 1:58pm 1643936292

The population was nearly 3 million in 1970. Auckland three quarters.

by Brick in the machine | 4th Feb 22, 2:41pm 1643938892

Thanks kwbrn, so not as bad, but still not good

by Waikatohome | 4th Feb 22, 12:45pm 1643931905

The population decreased by 4000 last year. Auctions have stalled. Who are they going to sell all these houses to?

by Averageman | 4th Feb 22, 12:51pm 1643932275

Indeed.

by Pa1nter | 4th Feb 22, 12:56pm 1643932591

There's been quite a lot of years of underbuilding, and household sizes are getting smaller.

by Waikatohome | 4th Feb 22, 12:55pm 1643932528

So why do they keep building 5 bedroom Mc Mansions?

by Pa1nter | 4th Feb 22, 12:58pm 1643932693

Household size is the number of occupants. So we need more houses for the same population.

by Smudge02 | 4th Feb 22, 1:02pm 1643932932

Apparently for resale value 😂

by Noncents | 4th Feb 22, 2:01pm 1643936495

Because we all work from home. Mentally you shouldn't work in your bedroom. The wife hates me in the dining room and the kids hate me in their bedrooms.

So they aren't 5th bedrooms. They are 3 bed/2 office houses, and man I wish I had one.

by morepork | 4th Feb 22, 2:43pm 1643939008

Yeah me too - we bought a 4 bedroom place when we had 2 kids, but then a third kid and working from home came along so I've taken over the living room. It would be nice to upgrade to a 5 bedroom, or as you say 4 bed + study place, but the price jump is ridiculous. We're considering getting a "sleepout" built in the backyard, otherwise the garage is the next best space.

by Hamish | 4th Feb 22, 3:56pm 1643943378

Friends of ours were looking at getting a bedroom extension put on. Simple design. When they got some indicative prices they bailed and bought a motor-home instead for hosting sleepover guests. And they now have the bonus of a motor-home to go on holiday with.

by Waikatohome | 4th Feb 22, 4:39pm 1643945984

Not a bad idea. We looked at doing an extension, one bedroom with ensuite, it was going to be over $150k. Having said that Motor homes aren't cheap either and they depreciate. We ended up renovating the existing house instead as it hadn't been touched since about 1975 and the handles were falling off the windows! Guests have to sleep in the garage, at least they don't over stay their welcome, cant make them too comfortable.

by Whatwillhappen | 4th Feb 22, 1:25pm 1643934337

For the price of a 93m2, 3 bedroom one bath one garage house on a half share of 809m2 section in Mt Roskill, you could get this:

4 bed, 3 BR, 3 garage 293 m2 house with two lounges on 2226m2 section in provincial Wellington.

I know which I'd rather have, and it ain't Auckland.

by Nzdan | 4th Feb 22, 1:56pm 1643936194

For half the price of that Mt Roskill property, I bought a 180sqm 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house on 1/4 acre in provincial Wellington mid-late last year.

Rimu floors, stained glass features, 2 heat pumps, log fire, tree lined street with a very short stroll to the Wellington commuter rail service.

by Whatwillhappen | 4th Feb 22, 2:45pm 1643939121

Sounds nice. I can envision the street. I'm a fan of new houses as I've had to paint and renovate an old one ;)

by HouseMouse | 4th Feb 22, 2:49pm 1643939361

The data is backward looking. In the near future the numbers will slump.

Increasingly there will be divergence between dwellings consented, and dwellings completed.

by Smudge02 | 4th Feb 22, 4:06pm 1643944004

It appears most commentary to do with property or the economy is "backward looking" currently, no one seems to want to look forward.

by MortgageBelt | 4th Feb 22, 1:22pm 1643934141

Are building supplies fully available for all consented builds? Buyers are very wary of new builds currently especially buying off plans.

by Pa1nter | 4th Feb 22, 1:07pm 1643933242

Supplies and also labour. Most construction crowds now aren't offering completion dates on new projects.

by Sluggy | 5th Feb 22, 8:25am 1644002725

If you are disorganised and havent moved your planning to fit with the new normal time frames, then no, building supplies are not readily available. I know a few builders who have massively changed how they work to keep their guys employed.

I wholesale products, we have encouraged our customers to hold more stock - this has worked out well. Those that havent will miss out. We have 60% more stock now than we did at this time last year. Its about working with the conditions, no amount of whingeing will help.

by HouseMouse | 4th Feb 22, 3:08pm 1643940525

Bit off topic, but I see Macrobusiness are reporting economists in Aus predicting their OCR won't be lifted till August / September, and even with a delayed and minor rise house prices will fall 10%.

by Dale Smith | 4th Feb 22, 4:46pm 1643946409

'New housing boom continues with nearly 49,000 new homes consented in 2021'

This has to be put into context to mean anything.

If it's 49,000 consents to meet 49,000 houses which there is an immediate demand ie a willingness and ability to pay for, then supply would equal demand.

But if it's 49,000 consents for only a 20,000 ability to buy now demand, then there is a serious over consent which means that many of those consents won't be built anytime soon, so averaged out this means - what?

If it was 49,000 houses getting built for only 20,000 ability to buy now demand, then it starts to get interesting re price falls.

by MortgageBelt | 4th Feb 22, 4:58pm 1643947115

Can you live in a consent?

by Dale Smith | 4th Feb 22, 5:44pm 1643949847

Not sure where you are going with that reply, or if you haven't understood the points I was making?

by MortgageBelt | 4th Feb 22, 5:58pm 1643950701

More consents going through than will be actually be built over the next 12 months perhaps.

by Dale Smith | 4th Feb 22, 6:30pm 1643952654

The point I was trying to make is that if you are building to the trend then consents should be indicative of demand that will exist when they are built.

Of course, we know that the supply and demand economics is so far out of syn. in NZ, that this is not correct. Hence my point is that until you put the reported consent numbers into the correct context, what does reporting 'a record number' even mean?

Which of course could mean as you state, a record number of overbuilds, especially considering what could be a record decline in demand.

by blobbles | 4th Feb 22, 6:30pm 1643952616

Remember, we were somewhere in the range of having 65k-80k house shortage before COVID hit and migration went into reverse. If we are about to build 50k just this year, we are way into over build territory.

Fortuitously, the government is opening the border this year, possibly just in time to stop an over supply? Hard to know...

by Brock Landers | 4th Feb 22, 6:33pm 1643952816

A large number of kiwis will be leaving.

by HouseMouse | 4th Feb 22, 6:57pm 1643954271

I am sick of that narrative.

We won't get flooded with immigrants, there won't be the jobs.

And plenty of young kiwis will leave for Aus.

by blobbles | 4th Feb 22, 7:25pm 1643955959

Not making any predictions. However, if you have your ear to the ground in recruiter markets, they are screaming out for workers. The low unemployment rate is an indicator of that as well. Also if lots of young kiwis leave for Aus (which I encourage them to do because this govt hates them), then that will leave even more jobs open.

IMO it could go either way, or down the middle.

by HouseMouse | 5th Feb 22, 8:42am 1644003758

Fair enough. Well, if there are a significant number of immigrants then many of those will be replacing those leaving, so I can't see a big gain in net terms.

Most of the immigrants will be lower-middle income and will have little impact on the housing market. Indirectly, if the numbers are big enough, they might help support it a little through rental demand.

by Final Account | 5th Feb 22, 9:33am 1644006791

I think it will go down the middle. We will lose well trained, English speaking kiwis to Australia etc, and gain low skilled, non English speaking immigrants. Great.

by swingtrader | 5th Feb 22, 10:42am 1644010947

The visa requirements have changed and low skilled workers are unlikely to get work visas anymore. our traditionally largest pool of immigrants (Chinese) can’t get a passport issued or renewed.

Maybe we’ll get the Indians back as unemployment rises there but we’ll have fierce competition for them from Canada and Germany. They’ll take one look at Auckland and work out the cost of living figures don’t add up any more. I don’t see migrants flooding in ever again at the levels per-Covid.

by blobbles | 5th Feb 22, 10:47am 1644011267

Agree with this, I think once we open up, the demand for skilled immigrants to fill high paying jobs is absolutely off the chart in big western countries (England/US/Canada/Aus). We will be lucky to compete when it comes to cost of living, so are likely to not benefit.

by Shoreman | 6th Feb 22, 3:02pm 1644112942

Housemouse - ' And plenty of young kiwis will leave for Aus '

There has been the opportunity for young Kiwi's to leave to Aussie for sometime, just because we are opening our board's does not mean a flood of Kiwi's out, given the experience of many Kiwi's in Aussie, US, UK and else where in the world we equally may see a surprising number of Kiwi's home !

Time will tell, there are lots of opportunities in Aussie but the job market here is equally booming !