Brace for apartment boom

Building consents for new flats, townhouses and apartments have hit a 23-year high. In the year ended February 2018, consents for highdensity housing ‘‘rose significantly’’ while consents for standalone houses fell slightly, Statistics New Zealand said. The number of apartments consented rose to 3166 in February, or 29 per cent more than February last year. Consents for flats, units and townhouses were up 12 per cent over the same period, climbing to 5077 – the highest level since 1995. Consents for new standalone houses were down 1.3 per cent to 21,052 in the past year. However, they still accounted for two-thirds of all new homes. For the year to February 31,245 new dwellings were consented, a rise of 3.6 per cent on the previous year.