The latest building consent data suggests residential property developers were becoming slightly more optimistic in the second half of last year.
According to Statistics NZ, building consents were issued for 3517 new dwellings throughout the country in November 2025. That was up 13.5% compared with November 2024.and up 18.9% compared to November 2023.
November 2025 was the fourth month in a row the number of new dwelling consents issued was higher than the same month of 2024. See the graph below for the monthly trend over the two years to November 2025.
In the 12 months to November 2025, 35,969 new dwellings were consented, up 7.0% compared to the 33,609 consented in the previous 12 months.
That compares to annual declines of 12.0% and 23.9% in the 12 months to November 2024 and 2023, suggesting a modest recovery in planned residential building work could be underway.
The total value of new dwelling work consented in the 12 months to November last year was $16.351 billion, up 6.6% compared to the 12 months to November 2024.
However, the increase in residential dwelling consents has not been matched by non-residential building work.
The total value of consents issued for non-residential building work was $789 million in November 2025, down 10.7% compared to November 2024.
Non-residential buildings include commercial buildings such as offices, shops and factories as well public buildings such as schools and hospitals.
In the 12 months to November 2025, $8.797 billion of non-residential building work was consented, down 6.9% compared to the 12 months to November 2024.
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.