New dwelling consent numbers up 11.7% in year to February - retirement village unit numbers still in the doldrums

Planned residential construction continued its recent recovery, with new dwelling consents rising strongly in February.

Statistics NZ recorded 3168 building consents for new dwellings in the month of February, up 22.9% compared to February last year and up 13.3% compared to February 2024.

In the 12 months to February this year, 37,534 new dwellings were consented, up 11.7% compared to the previous 12 months and up 3.5% compared to the 12 months to February 2024.

However, that is still well below the 48,257 dwellings consented in the 12 months to February 2023 and the 49,883 consented in the 12 months to February 2022.

The biggest growth in percentage terms has been for apartments, with 2467 consented in the 12 months to February this year, up 34.3% compared to the previous 12 months, bringing an end to two years of substantial declines in apartment consent numbers.

Stand alone houses remain the most popular type of new dwelling, with 17,089 consented in the 12 months to February this year, followed by 16,303 townhouses and home units.

Retirement village units were the only type of dwelling not to record any growth in numbers, with 1675 consented in the 12 months to February this year, barely changed from the 1678 consented in the previous 12 months.

The total estimated construction value (excluding land cost) of the new dwellings consented in the 12 months to February this year was $17 billion, up 10.5% compared to the previous 12 months.

On top of that another $2.2 billion in structural alteration work was consented, taking the total value of residential building work consented in the year to February to $19.2 billion, up 9.3% on the previous 12 months.

Things were also in positive territory for non-residential building work, but only just, with consents issued for $8.9 billion of non-residential construction work in the 12 month to February this year.

That includes everything from shops, factories and offices to schools and hospitals, and this was up 0.7% compared to the previous 12 months.

That took the total value of all construction work consented in the 12 months to February this year to 28.7 billion, up a respectable 6.3% compared to the previous 12 months.

That will be a welcome relief for an industry which has previously endured two years of declining building work, even before allowing for the effects of inflation.

The interactive graph below shows monthly new dwelling consents issued by region.