The number of new dwelling consents issued dropped slightly last month, with consents for 2315 new dwellings issued in March compared with 2379 in February, according to Statistics NZ.
Consents were flat in Auckland, where 788 new dwelling consents were issued in March compared with 787 in February and 756 in March last year.
That is still woefully short of the estimated 1200 new homes that need to be built in Auckland each month just to keep pace with the region's explosive migration-driven population growth.
That means Auckland's housing shortage is continuing to worsen with demand for homes continuing to outstrip supply by at least 400 homes a month, which is likely to maintain upward pressure on house prices and rents.
Within the Auckland region the number of dwellings consented in March dropped sharply in the central suburbs, from 179 in February to just 14 in March.
That probably reflects the fact that very few apartments were consented in March, with just 32 apartments consented in the whole country in March compared with 204 in February.
However there was substantial consenting activity in Rodney (100 dwellings), Albany (178 dwellings), Manurewa-Papakura (93 dwellings) and Franklin (92 dwellings) during the month.
In Hamilton just 78 new homes were consented in March, the lowest number since June last year and in Tauranga 110 new homes were consented, the lowest number since August last year.
In Wellington new dwelling consents remained at miserably low levels, with just 32 new homes consented in the region in March, the lowest number since April last year.
In the last 13 months the number of new homes consented in Wellington has exceeded 100 only once, back in November when 148 new homes were consented.
In Christchurch 311 new homes were consented compared with 264 in February and 341 in March last year.
Stand alone homes remain by far the most common type of dwelling being consented, with 1815 houses consented throughout the country in March, 32 apartments, 134 retirement village units and 334 townhouses, flats and home units.
The total value of new residential dwelling work consented in March was $857 million with another $164 million of structural additions and alterations to existing homes consented, taking the total value of residential consents issued in March to just over $1 billion, the same level it has been hovering around every month since November, except January.
On top of that $460 million of non-residential building work was consented in March, compared to $372 million in February and $427 million in March last year.
That included $99 million of office space, $67 million of educational buildings, $52 million of social and cultural buildings and $40 million of retail premises.
See the interactive chart below for the number of new dwelling consents issued each region every month:
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