Annual housing consents reach near 44-year high

There were 33,576 consents for new homes issued in the 12 months ended January. Photo / Getty Images

Local authorities issued more housing consents in the year ended January, the highest number in a year since early 1975, Stats NZ says.

Consents in the month of January rose a seasonally adjusted 16.5 per cent to 3,300 with the increase mainly driven by large multi-unit projects such as apartments and particularly in Auckland in what is normally a quiet month.

Consents for stand-alone houses rose 5.8 per cent to 1,886 in the month.

There were 33,576 consents for new homes issued in the 12 months ended January but the big difference between now and 1975 is that the population has risen to nearly 5 million from only 3 million.

"At the peak of the 1970s, approximately 13 new homes were consented per 1,000 New Zealanders compared with 7 per 1,000 in the year ended January 2019," says Melissa McKenzie, the construction statistics manager.

So on a per capita basis, there were more homes built in 2004 when the rate was 8 per 1,000 while the lowest point was in 2011 when only 3 per 1,000 were consented.

Apartments, townhouses, flats and units, including retirement units, accounted for nearly 37 per cent of total consents in the year. Growth in townhouses, flats and units, excluding retirement units, was 33 per cent while growth in consents for stand-alone houses was just 0.6 per cent.

In Auckland alone, 13,272 new homes were consented in the year, slightly more than were consented for the whole country in the year ended July 2011.