“We continue to see a slight softening trend in the numbers, particularly for townhouses, with standalone house consents under a little less pressure,” he said.
“Lower mortgage rates continue to provide limited stimulus to the housing market and the lack of upward pressure on house prices remains a constraint on any recovery in residential construction.”
Stats NZ said consents for standalone houses in the year ended May 2025 rose 2.4% to 15,678, while multi-unit consents fell 8.6% to 17,852.
Of the multi-unit homes consented, 14,088 were townhouses, flats and units (down 11%), 2137 were apartments (up 6.2%) and 1627 were retirement village units (down 4.5%).
On a monthly basis, there were 3151 new homes consented in May 2025, down 0.8% compared with May 2024, Stats NZ said.
The seasonally adjusted number of new homes consented in May rose 10% compared with April and follows a drop of 15% in April compared with March.
Kiernan said perhaps the best news for residential construction in recent months was the stabilisation of consent numbers in Auckland.
Auckland represented 41% of nationwide consents over the last year, he said.
“However, lower net migration numbers and the region’s relatively weak economy will limit the scope for any pick-up in Auckland consent numbers in the near term.”
