New dwelling consents down 25.9% in April compared to a year earlier

By Greg Ninness

Current indications are that the number of new homes being built will decline by about a quarter as a downturn in residential construction starts to bite, with the number of new dwellings consented in April down 25.9% compared to April last year.

According to Statistics NZ, 2757 new dwellings were consented throughout the country in April, down 30.6% compared to March and down 25.9% compared to April last year.

The follows a 25.1% decline in March compared to a year earlier.

On an annual basis new dwelling consents in the 12 months to April were down 9.3% compared to the previous 12 months.

Those figures suggest the downturn in residential construction will be sudden and steep as new projects are completed.

"April 2023 makes the third consecutive month that the number of homes consented has been down by more than 25% when compared with the same month of the previous year, Statistics NZ property statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

The total construction value of all new dwellings consented in April was $1.169 billion, down 27.5% compared with April last year, which suggests the amount of money flowing into the economy from residential construction is about to decline by about $443 million a month.

The decline in consents in April compared to a year earlier was greatest for apartments -40.5%, followed by stand alone houses -32.1%, townhouses/units -18.2% and retirement village units -16.4%, although the monthly figures can be quite volatile, especially for apartments.

The number of new dwellings consented in the 12 months to April was down compared to the previous 12 months in all main centres, with Auckland consents -6.7%, Waikato -17%, Wellington Region -10% and Canterbury -5.5%.

This story was originally published on Interest.co.nz and has been republished here with permission.