But still outperform decades-long February averages
New Zealand has recorded a 6% decrease in new home consents in February compared to the same month last year, totalling 2,795 consents – a significant decline from the highs of the past five Februarys, the latest Stats NZ figures showed.
However, as Michael Heslop, construction and property statistics manager at Stats NZ, pointed out, “Fewer new homes were consented in February 2024 than in each of the previous five February months, but it was still higher than any February month between 1975 and 2018.”
Types of homes affected
The decline was felt across various types of housing:
- Stand-alone houses saw a minor drop of 0.5%, with 1,297 consents.
- Multi-unit homes faced a 10% decrease, totaling 1,498 consents, including townhouses, apartments, and retirement village units. Notably, while the overall numbers for multi-unit homes fell, apartments bucked the trend with a 13% increase, indicating a shift in housing preferences or investment focuses.
Seasonal adjustments and annual trends
The seasonally adjusted figures reveal a 15% rise in new home consents from January to February, following an 8.6% fall in January. This volatility underscored the impact of seasonal adjustments and the timing of large multi-home projects.
Over the year ended February, there was a 25% drop in new home consents, a significant contraction affecting both multi-unit homes and stand-alone houses similarly.
“This is in contrast to the year ended February 2023, when the number of multi-unit homes consented increased while stand-alone houses decreased,” Heslop said.
Home consents across regions
The decrease in consents was widespread across regions, except for Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay. Auckland (-27%), Canterbury (-21%), Waikato (-28%), and Wellington (-40%) saw the most substantial declines.
Gisborne, however, showcased a remarkable growth in new home consents, driven primarily by multi-unit homes.
Gisborne’s consistent growth
“Gisborne is the only region that has recorded a consistent annual increase in the number of homes consented since the year ended October 2023,” Heslop said.
The region consented 196 new homes in the year ended February, marking a 27% increase from the previous year.
“The number of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents in the Gisborne region has generally been lower than the number for all New Zealand, but this gap has been closing in the last year,” Heslop said.
Across New Zealand, the rate of new dwellings consented per 1,000 residents dropped to 6.9 in the year ending February 2024 from 9.4 in the previous year. The decrease may have been influenced by Cyclone Gabrielle's impact on the Gisborne region in early February 2023, Stats NZ reported.
Read the Stats NZ media release here. To compare with the previous month’s results, click here, and for the results in the year ending December, click here.
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