The Government’s plan to “flood the market” with more land and get more homes built faster and cheaper, particularly in Auckland, appears to be gaining traction with residential consents issued up 3.6% annually.
Building consents for new residences have risen lately, with 3747 new homes consented in September, up 27% compared to last September, Stats NZ said today.
“September recorded the highest number of homes consented in more than two years,” economic indicators spokeswoman Michelle Feyen said.
Residential construction had declined in recent years, but home consents have been trending up this year and have strengthened in recent months, suggesting a possible lift in future building activity, Feyen said.
In the year to September 34,882 new homes were consented, up 3.6% compared to the year ended September 2024.
Auckland and Otago contributed to most of the annual increase in consented multi-unit homes, with Wellington also rising.
The annual rise was led by multi-unit homes, up 5.6% to 18,904.
Apartment consents rose 49% to 2638.
Townhouses, flats, and unit consents rose 5.3% to 15,046.
Retirement village unit consents fell 33% to 1220.
Using official data, the property information and analytics business Cotality has found:
Getting more residences built in Auckland has been a key Government platform.
On Friday, Resource Management Act Reform Minister Chris Bishop confirmed the streamlined planning process to be used for Auckland Council’s new housing plan.
That is known as Plan Change 120 (PC120), Bishop says.
“In August, as requested by Auckland Council, Parliament passed a law allowing Auckland Council to withdraw its controversial Plan Change 78,” Bishop said on October 29.
The council asked for the ability to not apply the Medium Density Residential Standards and “downzone” areas of the city vulnerable to natural hazards like floods.
“The Government agreed to this request and the law now provides that the new plan change must deliver at least the same overall housing capacity....while also enabling greater building heights and housing density around key stations that will benefit from the City Rail Link investment when it opens next year,” Bishop said.
Also last week, the regime was introduced to get more smaller homes built faster.
Just-passed legislation aims to allow Kiwis to build granny flats up to 70sq m in their backyards without a building consent, unlocking more housing choices and delivering on a key coalition Government commitment in the Q4 Action Plan. It was announced on October 23.
Bishop said: “It’s currently far too hard to build the homes New Zealanders need, with even the simplest dwellings requiring complicated and costly consent processes.
“We know increasing housing availability directly translates to lower living costs for our communities. That’s why the coalition Government is making it faster and more affordable to build granny flats up to 70sq m.”
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said last week it was also a positive step for boosting productivity in New Zealand’s construction sector.
“The exemption is expected to deliver roughly 13,000 more granny flats over the next decade, meaning we’ll see more work for builders in the pipeline without local councils managing unnecessary consenting burdens for simple building work,” Penk said on October 23.
Stats NZ data showed building consents were falling earlier this year.
In the year to May, the number of new homes consented for building fell 3.8%. There were 33,530 new homes consented over that period, down from 34,851 in the year ended May 2024.
May’s annual consent total was the second-lowest for any month since the end of 2018.
The coalition Government wants more homes to be built cheaper and faster, yet in the year to January, there was an annual 7.2% drop in the sector.
There were 33,812 new homes consented from January 2024 to January 2025, down 7.2%.
Even though January new-house building consents were 11% up on last January, they were still below the January 2022 and 2023 figures.
Also, the total floor area of new homes consented in the year to January 2025 was the lowest for a January year since 2015. The average floor area for standalone houses was 176sq m, down from 183sq m in the year ended January 2024 and the lowest for a year ended January since 1994.
In the year ended January 2025, there were 17,854 multi-unit homes consented, down 15% annually. There were 15,958 standalone houses consented, up 2.9% over the same period.
New Zealand’s largest house-builder remains G.J. Gardner, whose managing director is Ellie Porteous.
BCI compiles results by the number of new homes built as well as the value.
In the year to April, G.J. Gardner built just over 800 new homes, followed by Mike Greer Homes and Fletcher Residential, BCI found.
Golden Homes, Signature Homes and HouseMe followed.
Bryce Glover, HouseMe’s Takanini-headquartered sales and marketing general manager, said a new trend had emerged. Families who owned a property with some extra ground were buying tiny houses priced from only $49,000 for their ageing parents, he said.
“More people are opting to put a fully self-contained unit on their property for mum or dad,” he said of people buying HouseMe stock.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.