The number of new homes being consented is at a five-year low and continuing to decline.
According to Statistics NZ, 33,632 new dwellings were consented in the 12 months to August this year, down from 42,110 (-20.1%) in the 12 months to August last year and down by a third compared to the 50,653 new dwellings consented in the year to August 2022.
That means 17,021 fewer new homes were consented in the year to August 2024 than the same period two years ago and consents in the year to August were at a five year low.
That creates a grim outlook for the residential construction sector, with the value of the building work consented for new dwellings over the year to August declining by $5 billion (-24.6%) over the last two years.
That is showing up in figures from credit bureau Centrix, which show that construction firms currently represent one out of four companies being placed into liquidation and 546 construction firms have been liquidated in the past 12 months.
The biggest decline in the types of dwellings consented was for apartments, which dropped from 3801 in the year to August 2023 to 1704 in the year to August 2024 (-55%).
In the month of August this year, just 47 new apartments were consented nationally.
The number of new retirement village units has also dropped away sharply, falling by 40.3% in the year to August, followed by townhouses and home units which were down -19.6% over the same period.
Compared to other types of dwellings, stand alone houses have held up comparatively well, declining by just 9.7% over the 12 months to August, although that followed a 25.1% decline in the previous 12 months.
Making things worse, the value of non-residential building work being consented is also declining, dropping from $9.9 billion in the year to August 2023, to $9.1 billion (-8%) in the year to August this year.
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The charts below show the monthly trends in residential consent issuance, by dwelling type and region.
Building consents - type
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Building consents - residential
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