Canterbury is consenting more homes per capita than anywhere else in the country.

New data from statistics New Zealand shows the number of new homes consented per capita has doubled over the past five years.

Canterbury in particular saw 11 new homes consented per every 1000 residents, due to ongoing earthquake recovery.

This was almost double Auckland and the national average of six housing consents per 1000 residents.

Over the past decade, New Zealand’s population has grown by 508,000, while the private dwelling stock has grown by an estimated 178,000.

In the year ended June 2016, the regions that consented the most new homes per 1000 residents were:

• Canterbury – 11
• Bay of Plenty – 8
• Waikato – 8
• Tasman – 7
• Otago – 7
• Northland – 6
• Auckland – 6.

Over the past year, the regions surrounding Auckland (Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty) have seen the largest increases in dwelling consents per capita.

At 30 June 2016, almost 4.7 million people were living in New Zealand, and there were a total of 1.8 million private dwellings.