The building industry could be headed for an upturn with building consents up strongly in September

There was a big jump in the number of residential building consents issued in September, indicating a possible turnaround in the residential construction sector.

According to Statistics NZ, 3747 new residential consents were issued throughout the country in September, which was up 21.7% compared to August and up 27.3% compared to September last year.

It was also the most new dwelling consents issued in any month of the year since November 2022.

The big jump in consent numbers was evident for most dwelling types, with consents for stand alone houses up 16.2% compared to September last year, while apartment consents were up a whopping 57.4%, and townhouses/home units were up 49.8%.

Retirement village units were the only types of housing to go against the trend, with consents for new retirement units down 61.4% in September compared to September last year.

New dwelling consent numbers were also up on an annual basis, with 34,882 new dwellings consented in the 12 months to September this year, up 3.6% compared to the previous 12 months.

That lifted the total estimated value of building work on new dwellings consented in September to $1.611 billion, up 22.1% compared to September last year. 

There was also a huge jump in the value of non-residential building work consented, which was $947 million in September, up 47.0% compared to September last year.

That includes both new construction and alterations to non-residential buildings, which range from commercial buildings such as offices, shops, factories and warehouses to public service buildings such as hospitals and schools.

That took the total value of all types of building work consented in September to $2.829 billion, up 29.3% compared to September last year.

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NZ total
Northland
Auckland
Waikato
Bay of Plenty
Gisborne
Hawke’s Bay
Taranaki
Manawatu/Wanganui
Wellington
Tasman
Nelson
Marlborough
Westland
Canterbury
Otago
Southland

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All Dwelling Types
Apartments
Houses
Retirement Units
Townhouses