Building consent numbers continue declining, particularly for residential construction

Building consent figures suggest slowdown in construction activity is likely to last beyond 2026

Property / news

Building consent figures suggest slowdown in construction activity is likely to last beyond 2026

30th May 25, 12:14pm by Greg Ninness

The total annual value of building work consented declined from $28.569 billion in the 12 months to April last year, to $26.920b in the 12 months to April this year, a drop of $1.649b (-5.8%) for the year.

However, the rate of decline in the value of building consents is slowing considerably after a decline of $3.569b in the year to April 2024.

That brings the total drop in the value of building work consented over the last two years to $5.218b, from $32.138b in the year to April 2023, to $26.920b in the year to April 2025.

Those figures include all types of building work consented including residential and commercial buildings and new buildings and alterations.

The decline has been particularly severe for residential construction, with the number of new homes being consented declining for three years in a row.

That has dropped from a high point of 50,688 new homes consented nationwide in the 12 months to April 2022 to 33,554 in the year to April 2025. That means 17,134 fewer new homes were consented in the 12 months to April this year than in the same period three years ago.

Over the same period, the consented value of that building work has dropped from $19.853 billion a year to $15.266b, a decline of $4.587b a year (-23.1%).

In the Auckland region, the number of new homes being consented has declined for three years in a row. Down from 21,468 in the 12 months to April 2022, to 13,748 in the 12 months to April this year. That's a drop of 7720 homes year (-36%) over the last three years.

Over the same period, the number of new homes consented in Wellington dropped from 3839 to 1869 (-51%), and in Canterbury new dwellings consented declined from 8489 to 6505 (-23.4%).

Otago went against the trend and posted a substantial increase in new homes being consented in the 12 months to April, up 36.1% compared to the 12 months to April last year, but up just 7.2% compared to three years ago.

The latest figures suggest the current slowdown in residential construction is likely to continue into 2026 and 2027, with substantially fewer new homes coming on to the market as a result.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

Building consents - type

Select chart tabs

Source: Statistics NZ

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

11 Comments

by Keynes | 30th May 25, 12:26pm 1748564812

That will bring a sigh of relief to mortgage holders and the banks exposed to those mortgages.

A growing supply of housing to meet demand is not good for property values - anything that slows down the rate of new houses entering the market protects inflated house prices.

by HGWR | 30th May 25, 1:40pm 1748569216

Based on the latest migration data we only need about 18,000 new houses a year at the moment to accommodate migration and natural population growth. Perhaps if we assume that a large chunk of those 33,000 consents aren't built, and perhaps a few demolitions accompany them, they you might conclude that oversupply won't be increasing substantially once these consents flow through the system - but it doesn't look likely to decrease much either.

by Pa1nter | 30th May 25, 1:58pm 1748570290

You'd need to establish there were enough homes to begin with

by Keynes | 30th May 25, 12:30pm 1748565002

I can think of at least 6000 houses that would have been built by Kāinga Ora had they been left alone to keep doing what they were doing. Never mind - new housing supply isn't good for people who already own property.

by Pa1nter | 30th May 25, 12:44pm 1748565853

What they were doing was super shit. 50 cents in the dollar value, at best.

But hey, better to be doing anything, than doing it efficiently or well, right?

by rolande | 30th May 25, 2:46pm 1748573196

Current government talks a lot about housing supply but leaving KO alone to build these houses was the easiest thing to do to increase supply. Yes more expensive than private developments, but generally better quality.

I'm expecting leaky homes 2.0 to hit in a few years with all the private town houses being thrown up in AKL

by Midnight Singer | 30th May 25, 3:18pm 1748575134

Really!? Why?

by Dale Smith | 30th May 25, 3:29pm 1748575764

You mean leaky home V3, V2 is already here.

by Pa1nter | 30th May 25, 3:53pm 1748577236

Yes more expensive than private developments, but generally better quality.

Uhhh, no. Lowest bidder contractors, organized and overseen by ineptitude.

And insane in implementation. Let's build 6 houses on one site, but make each of them a different size, shape, design and colour.

Sad thing is we used to know how to build houses efficiently at scale.

by rolande | 30th May 25, 9:43pm 1748598212

KO tended to contract with Fletcher Residential and other larger players. Not risk free, but generally more reliable then the smaller outfits working on the private developments

by Pa1nter | 31st May 25, 8:58am 1748638706

KO tender a great deal of their work including sub trades.

Fletchers is also not a reliable firm.

Source: have worked for both KO and Fletchers