New dwelling numbers fell in November, big drops in Auckland and Wellington

Standalone houses regained their lead over townhouses, flats, and units in the November new consents. Photo / David Steele

The number of new dwellings consented fell a seasonally adjusted 11 per cent in November 2023, after rising 8.5 per cent the month before.

There were not as many townhouses, flats, and units consented as there were standalone units.

Stats NZ released the seasonally-adjusted data today.

In November, there were 2958 new dwellings consented, including 1462 standalone houses and 1255 townhouses, flats and units.

That marked a shift from October, when 1380 townhouses, flats, and units were consented, compared with 1255 standalone houses.

In November there were 123 apartments consented, well down from 241 the month before.

And 118 retirement village units consented, down from 184 in October 2023.

Stats NZ said dwelling consent numbers each month could vary a lot due to the timing of big multi-dwelling projects, such as townhouses and apartment buildings.

In the year ended November 2023, the number of new dwellings consented was 38,209, down 24 per cent from a year earlier.

The number of new dwellings consented per 1000 residents across New Zealand was 7.3 for the year ended November.

Stats NZ said that compared with 9.8 in the year ended November 2022.

The highest number of new dwellings consented per 1000 residents was 13.4 in 1973.

Across all six regions Stats NZ measured for this data, new dwelling consent numbers were down.

In Auckland, 15,872 were consented, down 27 per cent.

In Waikato, numbers were down 26 per cent and in Wellington down 28 per cent.

The declines were more modest elsewhere - down 18 per cent in the rest of the North Island, down 19 per cent in Canterbury, and down 22 per cent in the rest of the South Island.

Non-residential building consents

The annual value of non-residential building work consented was $9.6b, up 2.0 percent from the year ended November 2022.

Storage buildings were at $1.5b and so were offices, administration, and public transport buildings.

Hospitals, nursing homes, and health buildings were also valued at at $1.5b.