Western Bay council staff said that they were now issuing more than 100 consents a month, an average of five every work day.
The consents were issued for activities ranging from building pools and fireplaces through to industrial-scale constructions, alterations and demolitions.
The Western Bay's group manager for policy, planning and regulatory services, Rachael Davie, said the council had responded to new home construction by speeding up the building of infrastructure. One example was at Omokoroa Rd, where $8.5m was being spent on water pipes.
She said the council was having trouble finding experienced building control officers for processing plans and doing inspections. The council hoped to work with a local tertiary provider later this year to train more people for this.
Property insiders agreed that there had a construction boom in the Western Bay outside of Tauranga, but also suggested that inflation was contributing to the growth in consent values.
Johnny Calley, who was developing land in Katikati, said building costs had "definitely increased with demand", partly caused by manufacturers of building materials expanding their operations and passing on those costs to buyers.
"With labour there's been an increase in costs, and again that is supply and demand."
Architectural Designers NZ Bay of Plenty chairman Jason Macdonald agreed that construction was generally becoming more expensive.
"Labour and material costs have increased," he said. "And there seem to be a lot more compliance costs with documentation."
Ray White Real Estate Te Puke owner Rochelle Carter said people were spending money on improving existing homes in her area.
"A lot of buyers from Papamoa and Tauranga are buying new houses here and doing them up," she said. "They're adding on decks, rooms and extra bathrooms."
The overall number of consents for last year in the Western Bay council's area was 1453, including 479 for new homes.
Council records showed that the consents were spread throughout the Bay.
Some of the biggest consents issued were for a school upgrade ($6m), retirement village ($3.8m) and a coolstore-packhouse complex ($3.8m).
Quotable Value figures released in December showed that the average house value in the Western Bay rose 30.5 per cent in one year, to $591,202. This was more than Tauranga's growth of 26.5 per cent, to $665,155.
Building consents
Value of consents, 2016: $284 million
Value of consents, 2015: $176 million
Increase: 61 per cent
Number of consents, 2016: 1453
Number of consents, 2015: 1070
Increase: 36 per cent
Source: Western Bay District Council