New Zealand Sees Significant Decline in New Home Consents, Non-Residential Construction Shows Resilience

Date Published: 5 April 2024

Key Facts

• The number of new homes consented in the year to February fell by 24.8% compared to the previous year.
• In the 12 months leading up to February this year, 36,276 new homes were sanctioned, a drop of 27.2% compared to the year leading up to February 2022.
• Every dwelling type experienced a decline, with townhouses and home units down by 16.9%, standalone houses by 24.0%, apartments by 49.2%, and retirement village units by 45.3%.
• The total value of new house construction consented declined from $19.93 billion to $16.22 billion, a decrease of $3.71 billion, or 18.6%.
• The value of consented structural alterations to existing homes slightly rose by 0.7%, adding up to $2.494 billion.
• The overall value of residential construction work consented declined by $3.69 billion, or 16.5%.
• Non-residential construction, both commercial and non-commercial, recorded $9.907 billion consents, a 3% increase compared to the previous 12 months.
• However, the total floor area of approved non-residential work declined by 8.1%, indicating potential inflationary effects keeping the total value steady despite decreasing outputs.

Article Summary

According to the recent report by Statistics NZ, there had been a significant decline in the number of new homes sanctioned over the past year leading up to February. The overall number fell by a quarter compared to the previous 12 months. The report suggests that all types of dwellings were impacted, with especially steep declines in consents for apartments and retirement village units.

The total value of new dwelling work consented also experienced a notable downfall. There was a decrease of $3.71 billion or 18.6% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the overall value of all residential construction work saw a decline of $3.69 billion, or a drop of 16.5% on the previous 12 months. This indicates a substantial slowdown in the New Zealand housing construction market.

On the other hand, sanctions for structural alterations to existing homes show some resilience. The value of consented alterations slightly increased by 0.7% over the year to February, amounting to $2.494 billion. Furthermore, non-residential construction work sanctions rose 3% over the last 12 months. However, the report observed a decrease in the total floor area of non-residential construction tasks, suggesting inflation might be keeping the total value steady despite reducing work.

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