The number of consents being issued for new homes continues to drop.

Annual home consents – approval from the council to conduct building work at a specific site – peaked in 2022 at 51,015 and have been declining ever since.

New data from Stats NZ shows there were 40,408 new consents issued in the year to September 2023, 20 per cent fewer than the year before.

Although the annual figures are declining, levels remain higher than at any 12-month period prior to 2021.

Most of the new home consents issued over the last year were in Auckland (17,079 or 42 per cent of total consents) and Canterbury (7209 or 18 per cent of total consents). Home consents declined across every region in Aotearoa, except Marlborough.

The regions where the most consents were issued in the year to September 2023 were:

• Auckland with 17,079 (down 22 per cent compared with the year ended September 2022)
• Canterbury with 7209 (down 17 per cent)
• Waikato with 3875 (down 21 per cent)
• Wellington with 3121 (down 18 per cent)

Most of the consents issued over the past year were for townhouses, flats or units (17,874 – down 14 per cent compared with the year ended September 2022). There were 3227 consents for apartments (down 26 per cent) and 2688 consents for retirement-village units (down 6.8 per cent) issued.

As the number of new homes consented continues to decline – the population is growing – leading to the number of consents per 1000 people dropping from 9.9 in the year to September 2022 to 7.8 in the latest data.

“Although the number of new homes consented per 1000 residents has fallen in the year ended September 2023, it is still higher than the historical average of 6.7,” Heslop said.

The regions with the highest number of new homes consented per 1000 residents were:

• Canterbury with 10.8 new homes consented per 1000 residents
• Auckland with 9.8
• Otago with 7.8
• Tasman with 7.5.

“The number of new homes consented per 1000 residents can be higher in popular holiday areas, as holidaymakers and tourists are excluded from the estimated resident population,” Heslop said.

“But some of the places they stay, such as holiday homes, are included in the number of homes consented.”

Julia Gabel is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on data journalism. She joined the Herald in 2020.