Almost 40,000 new homes consented in May year, a 19% increase year-on-year

Residential building consents continue rising strongly on both a monthly and annual basis.

According to Statistics NZ, 3801 building consents were issued throughout the country for new dwellings in May. That's up 21% from May last year. Meanwhile 39,737 consents were issued for new dwellings in the May year, a 19% rise when compared to the 12 months to May last year.

That brings an end to three years of May year declines, although numbers remain well below the peak of 51,015 consents issued in the 12 months to May 2022.

Consent numbers rose across all the main housing types, with 18,271 stand alone houses consented in the May year, up 17% on the previous 12 months. There were also 17,230 townhouses and home units consented, an increase of 22.3%, a 20% rise in apartments to 2554, and 1682 retirement village units, which was a 3.% increase.

The total value of the building work for the 39,737 new dwellings consented was $17.872 billion, up 18% year-on-year.

The value of alteration work also moved up into positive territory, with consents issued for $2.219 billion of structural residential alterations in the May year, up 2% and the first annual increase in the May year for that type of work since 2023.

That took the total value of all residential consents, new plus altered, issued in the 12 months to May to $20.092 billion, up 16% on the previous 12 months.

While residential consents showed solid growth in the year to May, non-residential building consents, which includes everything from shops, offices and factories to schools and hospitals, showed an ongoing decline.

Consents were issued for $8.666 billion of non-residential building work, down 4% compared to the previous 12 months.

That was the third consecutive annual May year decline in the value of non-residential building work consented, which is now at a five year low.

The monthly figures are even worse for non-residential work, with consents for $789 million of non-residential work issued in May, down by 19% compared to May last year.

The main exception was farm buildings, with consents worth $334 million issued in the 12 months to May this year, up 34% compared to the previous 12 months.