Home consents trending down

Home consents trending down

6 March 2017

Building consents for new homes appear to have eased or decreased across most of the country, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Nationally, the trend for the number of new homes consented has decreased 15 percent in the five months to January 2017, after reaching a 12-year high in August 2016.

The trend excludes monthly volatility to give a clearer picture of underlying changes in home building intentions.

“Most regions appear to have contributed to the recent decrease in residential consents, although Canterbury is the most significant contributor, followed by Auckland,” business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

“However, building consents are quite volatile at a regional level. Canterbury is showing a sustained decrease from its post-quake peak, whereas Auckland is still close to a 12-year high and is now consenting over 10,000 homes a year.”

Building consents are an indicator of future building activity, and almost all consented work is eventually completed. The recent building consent decreases are not reflected in the latest building activity statistics, which showed that building work continued to increase in the December 2016 quarter.

Home consents still up slightly in January 2017

Although the trend is decreasing, the seasonally adjusted number of new homes consented rose 0.8 percent in January. Weakness for stand-alone houses was offset by strength for apartments and townhouses. However, the rise in January followed falls of 7.9 percent in December and 8.9 percent in November 2016.

In actual terms, a total of 1,752 new homes were consented in January 2017 – up 3.4 percent from January 2016.

In the year ended January 2017, 30,123 new homes were consented – up 11 percent from the year ended January 2016.

For more information about these statistics:
• Visit Building Consents Issued: January 2017

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