Canterbury is outpacing Auckland when it comes to consents issued for new homes, but that shouldn't come as a surprise.

Figures out from Statistics New Zealand show while the number of new dwellings consented nation-wide has tapered off slightly in the past month, we're still trending six per cent higher than last year.

Business indicators manager Neil Kelly says the results reveal an interesting tale of two cities.

"Auckland has always been high and still is but the rate of growth is actually quite a bit higher in Canterbury.

'If I were to go back two years, Auckland dwelling consents would have been higher than the Canterbury ones."