Building consents hit record

A rise in townhouses has helped consents for new homes to soar past the 1970s record, but economists are questioning how long the boom will last.

Consents for 41,028 new homes were issued in the year to March

30, according to the latest Stats NZ figures. That number was well up on the previous record of

40,025 in the year ended February

1974. It was also up 9.1 per cent on the March 2020 year.

Auckland was key to driving the increase, with a record 17,495 new homes consented in the March year. That was nearly 43 per cent of all new homes nationwide.

Other regions with record consents over the year included Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu¯ -Whanganui, and Tasman. There were 4128 new homes consented in March and that number was the highest monthly total, surpassing the October 1973 figure of 4081.

Of the consents issued in March, 2438 were for standalone houses, 1243 were for townhouses, flats and units, 276 were for retirement village units and 261 were for apartments.

Stats NZ construction statistics manager Michael Heslop said that within 10 years the number of new homes consented annually had gone from the lowest point since the 1940s to a record.

‘‘The increased number of new homes consented in recent years has mostly been due to a rise in consents for higher-density homes, such as townhouses,’’ Heslop said.

‘‘The number of standalone houses consented in this period has been relatively flat.’’

This was particularly the case in Auckland where consents for multi-unit homes, such as townhouses, rose sharply in the second half of last year and remained at high levels in the first three months of 2021.

But the number of new homes consented for every 1000 residents was still below the 1970s peak, although it had been rising steadily from around the time of the global financial crisis, Heslop said.

Just over eight new homes were consented per 1000 residents in the year ended March, which is fewer than the record of 13.4 in 1973. However, the record numbers in March suggested there was a large amount of residential work in the pipeline.

Infometrics economist Andrew Beattie said the incredibly strong consents figures helped maintain momentum in addressing the undersupply of housing.

Because land prices were so high, the lower per-square-metre cost of medium-density townhouses offered developers an attractive return, he said.