High-density home growth is outpacing stand-alone homes
A recent report from Statistics New Zealand has revealed a 22% increase in the number of high-density homes consented in the year ending September 2019, for a total of 14,492 homes.
The growth of high-density or multi-unit homes played a significant part in pushing the total number of new homes consented to 36,446 – up 12.0% from last year.
“The rise in consents for multi-unit homes continues to be driven by more activity in Auckland, with over 1,000 more multi-unit homes consented there in the past 12 months than in the previous year,” said Melissa McKenzie, construction statistics manager at Stats NZ. “More multi-unit homes have been consented in other regions too and are becoming more common in many parts of New Zealand.”
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McKenzie also noted that the growth of high-density homes has already beaten that of stand-alone homes, which only increased 6.1% between the last two September years.
“While stand-alone houses still dominate the New Zealand market for new home builds, the gap between stand-alone houses and multi-unit dwellings consented has been getting smaller,” McKenzie said. “In the September 2019 year, 40% of all homes consented were apartments, townhouses, flats, units, or retirement village units, compared with a low point of about 15% in 2010.”
In seasonally adjusted terms, the total number of new homes consented increased 7.2% in September 2019, a jump from only 0.9% in August 2019. However, the number of new homes consented every month can vary significantly due to the timing of large multi-unit dwelling projects.
