About 10,000 new homes need to be built in NZ to keep pace with population growth and ease the current housing squeeze, a new report shows.

Nick Smith says he is "delighted" a $15 million defamation lawsuit against him has been settled out of court.

It is notoriously hard to fix up a leaky building that has been poorly designed or built to start with.

Building consents issued in February jumped 10 per cent, after rising one per cent the month before.

The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building activity rose 7.4 per cent in the December quarter, while non-residential volume fell 6.1 per cent.

The Government is defending its $347m home insulation scheme against criticism its 'one size fits all' approach is inadequate.

Builders will put up 18,000 to 20,000 new houses this year, according to a forecast.

Building consent stats released this morning show a 3.1 per cent jump in the number of new homes authorised for construction in November - the highest level since May 2008.

The Government is moving on with its plans to help leaky home owners and says it is up to councils whether they participate or not.

The amount of residential building work put in place has fallen by almost 40 per cent since the most recent peak.