sign up log in
Want to go ad-free? Find out how, here.

Surge in new dwelling consents in Auckland could be the beginning of the end for the region's housing shortage

Property
Surge in new dwelling consents in Auckland could be the beginning of the end for the region's housing shortage

There was a surge in the number of new dwelling consents issued in May, particularly in Auckland where they hit a 15 year high, Statistics NZ says.

Around the country 3407 new dwelling consents were issued in May, up 25% compared to April and up 22% compared to May last year.

It was the highest number of homes consented in any month since June 2004.

There was a particularly strong lift in new consents in Auckland, where 1530 consents were issued in May, up 31.5% compared to April and up 73% compared to May last year.

Statistics NZ said that was the highest number of new homes consented in the region in any month since October 2002.

There was also strong growth in new dwelling consents in Wellington, up 22% compared to April and up 11% compared to May last year, and in Canterbury where new dwelling consents were up 22% compared to April, but up marginally compared to May last year.

Within the overall increase in new dwelling consents, consents for stand alone houses, apartments and retirement village units all rose strongly compared to May, while the number of townhouses and home units was down slightly.

The news was particularly good for Aucklanders because it meant the region's housing shortage actually eased slightly in May, with the number of new homes being consented outstripping the demand being created by its burgeoning, migration-driven population growth.

However May's figures will need to be consistently maintained on a monthly basis for some time before they start to put any any noticeable dent in Auckland's housing shortage.

In October last year, Interest.co.nz estimated that at least 14,233 new homes needed to be added to Auckland's housing stock each year, or an average of 1186 a month,  just to keep pace with its growing population, with migration accounting for two thirds of that growth.

The 1530 new dwellings consented in May was 29% above that target, and the 1163 consented in April and 1082 consented in March were only just below it, suggesting the number of new homes being consented in Auckland could at last be starting to cartch up with demand.

That could happen even faster it the net population gain from migration continues to fall.

However it is likely to be around two years before the homes being consented now are built and available for people to live in, and it will take many years for the shortage of homes that has built up in Auckland over the last decade to fully subside 

But if the current rate of new house building in Auckland continues, the tide may have started to turn on the region's housing crisis.

You can receive all of our property articles automatically by subscribing to our free email Property Newsletter. This will deliver all of our property-related articles, including auction results and interest rate updates, directly to your in-box 3-5 times a week. We don't share your details with third parties and you can unsubscribe at any time. To subscribe just click on this link, scroll down to "Property email newsletter" and enter your email address.

Building consents - residential

Select chart tabs

#issued Nationally
#issued in Northland
#issued in Auckland
#issued in the Waikato
#issued in the Bay of Plenty
#issued
#issued in Hawkes Bay
#issued
#issued
#issued in Wellington
#
# Nelson
#issued
# Westand
#issued in Canterbury
# Otago
# Southland

Building consents - type

Select chart tabs

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.

60 Comments

This is fantastic news for Auckland. It is a brilliant city and because of that so many people chose to live there. So many people on this site suggest that people who say they cannot afford to buy a home there should move out of Auckland where housing is cheaper. But why should they especially if they were born there. Their families, friends, relatives and sporting and cultural interests are based there. Let us all hope this is the start of trend towards more and more consents which eventuate in housing becoming easier to get into in Auckland.

Up
0

Well said gordon! This is great news.

Up
0

yes great news!!!! BANK PROFITS UP UP UP!!!

with a clement altle government in place SHORT THE KIWI thank you!!! or Trade the Aussi BANKS!!!

Could it be that the MPT kit from the reserve bank has played a part in allowing FHB to lower CRV to income ratios.

more good new for the BANKS!!!!!!!

Up
0

Did you mean a Mickey Mouse Govt???

Up
0

Attlee is consistently rated by scholars, critics and the public as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers.

Up
0

Yes the UK did wonderfully well under his economic theory.. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA HA HA

SAD very SAD

Up
0

Thanks Didge, I'd never heard of him, but his Wikipedia page filled me in on the man. What accomplishments and service. That to me is a real PM, not what we're enduring now.

Up
0

Well put Gordon. Great news and let's hope the monentum continues

Up
0

To late, some of us couldn't wait for this"great city to live in" and moved on. Plus side discovered much better cities to live in and the joy of not planning your day around traffic flows. Much as I love Auckland (born there)..more housing and traffic are not going to make it a better city in the future.

Up
0

3 Cheers GorDon !
Aucklands great especially yachting & beaches
Downtown CBD is not great
Aucklanders are reserved and impolite predominantly They missed out on the gregarious Aussie gene
Auckland is grossly overpriced & quality of many things is lower than in larger markets I’m constantly amazed by quality I can buy here in the Northern hemisphere We have Costco which is marvellous as is Walmart
Long straight roads to drive your 420hp Mustang on . Freedom
Yes it’s worth living here not Auckland
On a bright note I hear 140 Chinese construction workers came to Auckland to build something in the city.
Let the Chinese build Aucklands infrastructure & extra homes

Up
0

Let the Chinese build..................................

Question is will it last........like China Steel

Up
0

So how about that “Coalition of Losers”

Up
0

Excellent news!

Up
0

Long may this trend continue. CoL; please get rid of the Auckland council's reserve contribution and planning, consenting, and inspection roadblocks. Industry can get what needs doing done if you just remove the impediments.

Up
0

So who are the real doom and gloom merchants. . Spent hours lambasting this government, and there are developers who are out there that can see the foresight of this government. .

Go on, stock up on those pills, as you'll are going to be so depressed from now on

Up
0

There is no way in the world that these great new figures are the result of any changes made by our new Government. The upward trend has been happening for 3 years and now hopefully will continue and make a dent in the shortfall. It is also incorrect that PT calls the Northcote re-development KB, this is a project that has been in the making for atleast 3 years. In time hopefully the supply can meet demand and none of us will have anything to complain about in the housing market.

Up
0

Thanks shore man, I feel the sun is out today.

Up
0

Consents are not built houses, increased consents potential good news - built houses will be good news.

Up
0

HO, how do you link more building consents to the current government?

Up
0

Maybe easier to teach a kid 1+1

Up
0

Thanks for your great explanation H O

Up
0

There is a big difference between consents and actual builds and the end products are at least two years away.
Deduct 25 percent at the very least before breaking out the champagne.

Up
0

So are you doom or gloom. .

So we can address you accordingly

Up
0

Try pragmatic

Up
0

But then you should be deducting 25% from all historic consent results. And if it’s 2 years from consent to build then how come people are giving the government crap for not building anything in 9 months?

Up
0

To be fair 9 months is only enough time to do one thing and with the Prime Minstress busy having babies, it's up to Winston to actually do something, which is his one main weakness.

Up
0

I hear he is planning an all out assault on Journalists next week. Just the end of week tipple to get through first.

Up
0

Good point.

Up
0

9 months is impossible timeframe to build anything. However it is sufficient time to choose locations for development, decide if to build appartments, terraced or detached houses on these sections. If to buy prefabs or build on site All project documentation and plans for resource/building consent should have been prepared by now. Contracts with engineers, surveyors, building companies signed. Total amount of new houses should be known as well as cost of such development and timeframes.

Up
0

How do you know they aren't at that stage? I don't think they're going to spoon feed the media this information to please the whingers.

Up
0

Mate, your logic is wrong. Any politician no matter the party would inform about even the smallest progress on key policy/project delivery to score points for fulllfiling pre election promises. It is also the easiest way to effortlessly quiet, as you say, "the whingers" and potentially turn them into supporters. The CoL so far is just buying existing projects from private developers for top buck from our tax money.

Up
0

This is good news but the process is still glacially slow. I know of someone in Orakei that lodged before Christmas and has only just been approved now. It was a very simple standard design just adding a second dwelling and Orakei is mixed housing Urban!

Up
0

Dear GorDon
There’s another reason Aucklands not so great
Takes too long to get building approvals even when the city is making a fortune on every new build distorting the ultimate selling price of a house.
It’s city council infused price inflation

Up
0

Hooray, sprawl.

As a result of the late 2016 adjustments to the unitary plan the Auckland region gained a vast over-supply of greenfield land.

Up
0

About 70% of the existing urban area was upzoned for higher density housing

Up
0

The article breaks down the data by consent type, if you are interested. Surging increase in houses and retirement complexes (greenfield); much slower or falling apartment and town house numbers (brownfield).

Hooray for sprawl.

Up
0

To use your often used phase...Fixed it for you..

Within the overall increase in new dwelling consents, consents for stand alone houses, apartments and retirement village units all rose strongly compared to May, while the number of townhouses and home units was down slightly.

Also the stand alone housing consents are misleading to you. You appear to assume that it is one house per 600m2 section. This obviously isn't the case as very little greenfield land in Auckland is zoned as single house land.
So, for your assumption to be correct you would have to believe that the average land owner is willing to forgo that zoning premium in order to build a large section property. That would be very hard to persuade anyone of.

Up
0

Good news ... but be careful becoming tangled with percentages , nothing has changed yet !!

" However May's figures will need to be consistently maintained on a monthly basis for some time before they start to put any any noticeable dent in Auckland's housing shortage."

This fact was embeded right down the middle of the article so less people will take notice of the facts that we are miles behind .... it is the total annual addition that counts ... limited numbers of these consents will be built in winter in addition to the 6-9 months lag to complete ....

So, In Auckland, 12,274 new homes were consented, up 18 percent from the year ended May 2017. .. Don't get too carried away folks, that is only about 2000 more houses to cater for the 4000 demand created just last year ... we still need to "Build" over 15000 homes each year in Auckland to stay where we are and to reduce the 40000 deficit we currently have...

Up
0

Don't forget that the workers are all going to need housing as well, and COL has used maths to figure that 1 builder can build 3 houses in 10 years, and there are zero builders in Auckland so they need Indian builders to come over and build our houses.

Up
0

Geez, you're really screwed up. See a therapist

Up
0

Again, HO, please stick to the issues rather than abusing other commenters

Up
0

As you say sir

Up
0

Bit too early to call an end to housing under-supply, but at least the numbers are going in the right direction. Of course we are very late in the cycle to finally meet growth demand, having in this cycle so far added many thousands to the under-supply. The real measure of this governments Kiwibuild and housing policy will be if they can increase or at least sustain building at this level (hopefully coupled with reduced immigration), rather than the 'we built this many' semantics. If the market stays soft or falls further chances are the building numbers will slump well below even treading water and set us up for another failure (or success, depending on how many properties you own!)

Up
0

Good work COL

Up
0

If current rates continue, Auckland will be consenting 50,000 homes a month in 6 years time.

Up
0

PT pushed KB start to the 1st of July - that is tomorrow , to announce the start of his big project. So will wait and see what this genius will come up with ...

As long as this CoLs have omitted the word "additional " from their KB statements and started relabeling projects or part of, which have been in the pipeline for years ( Like Northcote), and claiming credit for the 23000 HNZ homes already planned and being built, then there is no hope in following or believing these liars ...

they might think that they can fool the idiots who are let loose on social media praising every BS they come up with and helping out spinners with some apparent support, But no one can hide behind his / her soar thumb for long.

As JC said today, National will wait and see what these buggers come up with at the end of their term be it in KB, rail projects or petrol taxes, if its not working then it will be scrapped .. nice and clean

When this CoLs are kicked out in 2020 they will have a long warm 9 years incubation on the opposition benches moaning and grieving their wrong doings and misery ! ... especially the tree huggers who had their day in the sun thanks to NZF mislead voters...

Up
0

think you have one too many zeros there, should be 5000. But as you say, market is responding to demand and building more houses, with slowly ramping speed. Kiwibuild is unnecessary as long as the govt can maintain a good economy.

Up
0

Exactly, kiwibuild is waste of taxpayers money. If the government tackle RMA and maintain stable economy, we do not need any kiwibuild. Private sector will take care of construction of necessary houses and banks will be happy to finance these projects.

Up
0

Thanks for your insights mr. Key

Up
0

Simon Bridges could try to improve his popularity by coming up with a comprehensive solution to the housing crisis, which is the issue that most concerns the public.

Maybe he could rehash John Key's 2007 housing policies? John Key was quite popular back then....

Here is a nice video for Simon to check out of John Key discussing his 2007 housing policies. Spoiler alert -land supply is mentioned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPgoAI1cLE

Up
0

Its surprising that Simon bridges hasn't announced any housing policies.. he's spending more time fighting labours policies, which is gaining traction..

Not to mention he's fighting hard to keep his leadership intact

Up
0

I wonder what all the celebrating is about. If you do some pretty basic studying of the stats you will see that the May figure is only 80 more than the previous high in November last year. Of more significance the average cost of the Auckland consents came in at $340552 compared with the all NZ average of $350748. This indicates that smaller cheaper builds are growing. Perhaps retirement units or nasty little apartments?

Up
0

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1806/S00329/highest-building-consent-l…

Suggest you change your name to property lagger.. another fake profile

Up
0

I have written my last paper in a while. It follows on from my 'Why tax housing in a housing crisis' paper.
https://medium.com/land-buildings-identity-and-values/why-tax-house-bui…

My new paper uses Christchurch as a model to describe what I think is the urbanisation model that the government is heading to. Perhaps using Christchurch as a model was mistake because no one seems interested in republishing it. But I am from Canterbury so wanted to do some urbanisation analysis that would benefit my home region....
https://medium.com/land-buildings-identity-and-values/ending-christchur…

Readers may also be interested that 120 Interest.co.nz readers have checked out my paper on intensification around Auckland's improving rapid transit network -which was the first in this trio of interlinked article. I put up the link on 5 separate interest.co.nz articles. This article introduced a new concept of how neighbours in a residential block could cooperate together with master planning housing development companies like the NZ SuperFund and Ngai Tahu Property to make the best intensification project for their neighbourhood.

Here is the link again. I do update my articles in response to good feedback and advise. But mostly the advise has been positive for this article. Although some people do question how effective the policy would be. I think it is worth a try. It can't harm and may help.
https://medium.com/land-buildings-identity-and-values/can-great-design-…

Up
0

KiwiBuild is a non event and we all know it!
One change after another and still,nothing concrete or additional.
This COL who didn’t think they had s chance of getting in before the election are now finding that what they promised they can’t do.
Shane Jones now withdrawn the money they had put aside for regional development, which I think is a good idea as they wouldn’t have a clue where to spend it wisely.
Watch the workers get their way with increased pay as this COL have no idea how to control it as they have no experience with anything like this.

Up
0

Haha just love how you lot are hitting the panic button... don't worry the depression wards are waiting for ya

Up
0

If you are such a successful, well off property investor why are you so angry?
Surely you have better things to do, to spend your time and money on.
The people who should be angry are those who have been screwed over by respective governments over the last 30 years.

Up
0
Up
0

Fritz, none of the COL’s policies to deter property investment will affect us.
I care about NZ and the way that this government comprises of 3 parties all with different ideas put together to beat the party that was the most popular is ridiculous.
Since they have been in they have done nothing that they said they will do.
KiwiBuild is a non goer as the ones that they think will afford these boxes won’t be able to.
Trees no.
Pike river no
Increased taxes yes
Reduce child poverty no

Everyone could expect this because there is absolutely no business success amongst the leaders and pollies high up the chain.
I feel sorry for the people that are struggling because things are only going to get more expensive and the tax take to pay for things will be down, as this COL do nothing at all for productivity, quite the opposite.

Up
0

"Party that was most popular "

Are you that naive that you don't realise that every party has to end at some point, else the police have to be called in...

That is exactly what's happening..

Please clean up as you leave

Up
0