Record number of new NZ homes

Te Whanganui-a-Tara - The number of new homes consented for build last year rose a record 24 percent, compared with 2020, Stats NZ says.

A total of 48,899 new homes were consented last year. Prior to 2021, the highest number of new homes consented was 40,025 in the year ended February 1974. That record stood for 47 years until the year ended March 2021 when 41,028 new homes were consented.

The 2021 record-breaking year for new home consents included multi-unit homes surging 36 percent to 23 and stand-alone houses rising 15 percent to 25,564 compared with 2020.

The number of new homes consented per 1000 residents across New Zealand was 9.6 in the year ended December 2021, up from 7.8 in the December 2020 year.

 The average floor area of all new homes consented in 2021 was 154 square metres, down from 156 square metres in 2020. The average floor area was 200 square metres at its peak in 2010, when over 80 percent of all new homes consented were stand-alone houses.

In 2021, 52 percent of all new homes consented were stand-alone houses (average 195 square metres), and 48 percent multi-unit homes (average 109 square metres).

The decrease in the average size of new homes in recent years is partly due to the increasing proportion of multi-unit homes, which tend to be smaller than most stand-alone houses.

Floor area for new homes includes any attached garage, which is around 36 square metres for a typical double garage. Stand-alone houses are more likely than other home types to include a garage.

Homes consented in the 1970s remain the smallest in the series. The average floor area of new homes was 107 square metres at its lowest point in 1975.

The average value per square metre of all new homes consented in 2021 was $2497, up 5.8 percent from $2360 in 2020. For multi-unit homes, the average was $2623 per square metre, and for stand-alone houses was $2432 per square metre. Consent values exclude the cost of land, which varies by region.

New home construction prices increased 16 percent in the December 2021 quarter compared with the December 2020 quarter as measured by the consumers price index.