Annual consents for townhouses, flats, and apartments up

Annual consents for townhouses, flats, and apartments move up – Media release

29 March 2018

Building consents for new townhouses, flats, and units were at a 23-year high, and apartments rose significantly in the year ended February 2018, Stats NZ said today. Meanwhile, consents for stand-alone houses were down slightly.

"Growth in the last 12 months has been driven by multi-unit dwellings, such as apartments and townhouses," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

Apartment numbers rose 29 percent to 3,166, compared with the February 2017 year. In addition, 5,077 townhouses, flats, and units were consented, up 12 percent over the same period.

In contrast, new stand-alone house numbers were down 1.3 percent to 21,052 in the latest year, although they still accounted for two-thirds of all new homes.

In the year ended February 2018, the total number of new homes consented rose 3.6 percent, compared with the February 2017 year.

"New homes data is volatile month to month, so we recommend using annual figures to see underlying changes," Ms McKenzie said.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented rose 5.7 percent in the February 2018 month, following no change in January 2018 and a 9.6 percent fall in December 2017.

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