The number of new homes consented fell 9.6 percent in December 2017, in seasonally adjusted terms, reversing a 9.6 percent rise in November, Stats NZ said today.

In actual terms, the total number of new homes consented was 2,169 in December 2017 – down 1.6 percent from the same month in 2016. This was driven by a fall in new stand-alone houses consented.

“While stand-alone house consents fell in 2017, they still account for the lion’s share of all new homes consented,” construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said. “The fall in stand-alone houses consented was more than offset by a large rise in new apartment units consented during the year.”

The total number of new homes consented in the year ended December 2017 was 31,087 – up 3.4 percent from 2016. This included:
• 21,022 stand-alone houses, down 1.4 percent from the year ended December 2016
• 3,239 apartment units, up 35 percent – highest for a December year since 2004
• 1,951 retirement village units, down 0.1 percent
• 4,875 townhouses, flats, units, and other dwellings, up 11 percent – highest for a December year since 1994.

“There was strong growth in many regions, with more consents issued particularly in the Auckland, Otago, and Wellington regions last year, however Canterbury continued to decline,” Ms. McKenzie said. “This was the third year in a row that Canterbury‘s residential consents fell, after rising significantly during the post-2011 earthquake rebuild.”

In 2017, the regions that consented the most new homes were:

• Auckland – 10,867, up 8.4 percent from 2016
• Canterbury – 5,004, down 15 percent
• Waikato – 3,507, down 1.3 percent
• Bay of Plenty – 2,506, down 0.6 percent
• Wellington – 2,294, up 15 percent
• Otago – 2,240, up 24 percent – the highest on record, reflecting more new houses, townhouses, and apartments in Queenstown.

© Scoop Media