Papamoa, Pyes Pa and Bethlehem had all been identified as current growth areas, Smart Growth implementation manager Duncan Tindall said.
"Bethlehem is coming to the end of its growth, there's not much left to develop there."
Te Tumu - the area beyond Papamoa East - and Keenan Rd in Pyes Pa had been identified as future growth areas, he said.
Development in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui was part of "in fill" and creating a "compact city".
Larger plots of land could be subdivided to fit more houses and money could be saved on infrastructure because it was already there.
Major development in the city suburbs came down to land availability, Master Builders Tauranga president Johnny Calley, of Calley Homes, said.
"All our Master Builders are very active in those five areas.
"Papamoa, Pyes Pa and Bethlehem are the three with the most land available, in terms of new developments, and that's a reflection of that."
The Bethlehem figures, 88 per cent of which was residential building work, reflected the high quantities of retirement villages in the area, Mr Calley said.
Seeing Mount Maunganui and Tauranga in the top five for construction could come as a surprise to people because of the lack of land, but in those cases people were choosing to rebuild in their preferred location instead of a blank section in an outer suburb, he said.
"We've demolished a lot of [old] homes in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui and replaced them with new houses."
Those areas were desirable locations and attracted affluent buyers, Mr Calley said.
Certified Builders Western Bay of Plenty president Mike Way, of Way Builders, agreed. "I guess the people who can afford to live there can afford to demolish and rebuild."
Pyes Pa, particularly The Lakes, and Papamoa were appealing for people looking to build because there was a lot of flat land, making the build easy and economical, Mr Way said.
Larger, cheaper sections in more rural areas often needed excavating and retaining so building costs got more expensive, he said.
Group sales and marketing manager for Eves and Bayleys Karen Worley said much of the land in The Lakes and Papamoa was pre-bought by group home builders and sold as house and land packages.
"We on-sell from there," she said.
Tauranga Harcourts managing director Simon Martin said building in a developed subdivision meant it was all "set-up, ready to go".
Rising house values in those popular suburbs were also encouraging people to go ahead with renovation work on their own homes, which would contribute to the figures, he said.
"Because the economy is doing well, people are feeling more confident in spending money on renovating their property and their house values are going up."
