Residential building work could pick up next year, however the outlook for non-residential work isn't so rosy

Residential building consents ticked higher in October, possibly suggesting an increase in residential construction work in the new year.

According to Statistics NZ, 3520 new dwelling consents were issued throughout the country in October, up 23.5% compared to October last year, and up 15.0% compared to October 2023.

Consents are also up on an annual basis, with 35,552 new dwelling consents issued in the 12 months to the end of October this year, up 6.2% year-on-year.

However, numbers sill have some way to go to get back to the October year peak of 50,252 new dwellings consented in the 12 months to October 2022.

Stand alone houses remain the most popular type of new home, with 16,183 consented in the October year, closely followed by 15,484 townhouses and home units, then 2649 apartments and 1236 retirement village units.

Retirement village units are the only type of housing to show an ongoing decline in the number being consented, with their numbers declining by 30.4% in the 12 months to October, their third consecutive annual decline.

The total construction value, excluding land, of the new dwellings consented in the October year was $16.111 billion, up by 5.2% compared to the previous 12 months.

However, that's still down by $4.255b (-20.9%) compared to the October year record of $20.366b of building work consented for new dwellings in the 12 months to October 2022.

However the value of non-residential consents, which includes commercial buildings such as shops and offices and non-commercial buildings such as schools and hospitals, remains on a downward slope.

In the 12 months to October 2025, the total value of consents issued for non-residential buildings was $8.891b,  down 4.7% compared to the year to October last year, following a 3.5% decrease in the October 2024 year.

• A quarterly analysis of residential building consents, including average dwelling size by type of property consented and the average consented build cost per square metre, is available here. The same analysis for the main types of commercial building consents is available here.