The economic downturn is continuing to drive down activity in the residential building sector.

StatsNZ said 45,159 new homes were consented in the May year, down 11 per cent annually.

Michael Heslop, construction and property statistics manager, said the latest annual number was down from the record high of 51,015 new homes consented in the year ended May 2022, but numbers were now at a similar level to the same period in 2021, he noted.

The 45,159 new residences comprise stand-alone as well as multi-unit and townhouse homes. The biggest dropoff lately has been in consents for new stand-alone homes.

New Zealand had 18,734 stand-alone houses consented in the May year, down 24 per cent compared with the year ended May 2022.

There were 26,425 multi-unit homes consented which was only a fall of 0.2 per cent over the same period.

Of the multi-unit homes consented in the latest year, 19,032 were townhouses, flats, and units, down 3.2 per cent, compared with May 2022.

A further 4164 were apartments, up 3.1 per cent while 3229 were retirement village units, up 16 per cent.

 “The annual number of new townhouses, flats, and units consented fell in May 2023 for the first time since late 2012,” Heslop said today.

All regions except Tasman, Nelson, and Marlborough consented fewer new homes. The four regions with the highest number of new homes consented in the year ended May 2023 were:

• Auckland with 19,539 housing consents, down 9.9 per cent annually;
• Canterbury with 7917, down 7.2 per cent;
• Waikato with 4244, down 18 per cent;
• Wellington with 3421, down 12 per cent.

In May alone, 3725 new homes were consented nationally, down 18 per cent compared to the same month of 2022. Of the new homes consented in May, 1732 were townhouses, flats and units, down 19 per cent, compared with May 2022.

A further 1643 were stand-alone houses, down 20 per cent, 225 were apartments, up 27 per cent and 125 were retirement village units, down 26 per cent.

The number of new homes consented each month can vary significantly due to the timing of large multi-dwelling projects, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, StatsNZ said.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new homes consented in May fell 2.2 per cent, compared with April. This follows a seasonally adjusted fall of 2.6 per cent in April.

Satish Ranchhod, a Westpac senior economist, said an increasing share of consents related to lumpy categories, like apartments.

A better gauge of what’s happening to building activity is the annual number of consents issued, he said, noting the drop from the high last year.

“We expect the downtrend in consent issuance will deepen over the coming months. As we’ve highlighted before, financial conditions in the construction sector have become a lot tougher. House prices have tumbled over the past year, dropping by 17 per cent across the country.

“At the same time, operating costs for construction firms have skyrocketed, rising by around 9 per cent over the past year. On top of that, interest rates have risen to their highest levels in more than a decade. The combination of those factors mean that prospective buyers are reluctant to purchase off the plan, while developers are increasingly hesitant to bring new projects to market. Consistent with that, those in the industry continue to report low levels of forward orders,” Ranchhod said.

Builders will need to continue projects this year, he said.

Last month, the Herald reported how housing consents from councils around New Zealand plunged 21 per cent in the latest quarter compared to the same time a year ago, data out today showed.

StatsNZ said then that 9719 new homes were consented in the three months to the end of March, compared with 12,333 the same time last year.

And summer’s bad weather might take a further toll.

“We only identified a few alterations that mentioned flooding or cyclone repair work in this month’s data, however some repairs may not include this information on the consent application. Some emergency repairs do not require a building consent and will therefore not be included in future building consent issued data,” information out last month from StatsNZ said.