The average size of new homes has shrunk by almost a third over the last 10 years while residential construction costs have more than doubled.
Between the third quarter (Q3) of 2013 and Q3 this year, the average floor area of new dwellings consented declined from 195 square metres (sqm) to 136 sqm, making new homes 30% smaller on average than they were 10 years ago, according to interest.co.nz's latest Building Consent Analysis tables.
Over the same period, the estimated average construction cost for newly consented dwellings (excluding the cost of land), increased from $1598 per sqm, to $3225/sqm, up 102%.
The combination of smaller floor areas and higher construction costs, meant the average build cost for newly consented dwellings increased from $311,945 in Q3 2013 to $439,308 in Q3 2023, up $127,363 (41%).
The shift to smaller homes has mainly been caused by a move away from stand alone houses to multi-unit dwellings such as apartments, terrace houses and home units.
In Q3 2013, stand alone houses were the predominant type of new homes being built, accounting for 81% of new dwelling consents.
By Q3 2023 that market share had halved, with stand alone houses making up just 40% of new dwelling consents.
The decline in the number of new stand alone houses being built has been particularly steep since it peaked at 6940 in Q2 2021, dropping to 3626 in Q3 2023, the lowest it has been in any quarter of the year since 2012.
On the other hand the number of townhouses and home units consented has increased more than ten-fold over the last 10 years, rising from just 417 in Q3 2013 to 4436 in Q3 2023.
And while fewer stand alone houses are being built, they are also shrinking in size.
In Q3 2013 the average size of stand-alone houses being consented was 213 sqm, and by Q3 this year that had declined to 181sqm, (-15%).
However while the average size of new homes has declined significantly over the last 10 years, we are building a lot more of them.
In Q3 2013 just 5503 new dwellings of all types were consented but in Q3 2023 that had risen to 9126, up by 66%.
Unfortunately those numbers are now in decline.
The number of new dwellings being consented throughout the country peaked at 13,247 in the third quarter of last year and in then started to decline and had retreated by almost a third by the third quarter of this year.
The full quarterly analysis of new dwelling consent trends, including the average size and cost per square metre of homes being consented by dwelling type going back as far as 2010, nationally and in the main urban centres, is available on the Residential Building Consent Analysis page.
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89 Comments
Good! 195sqm for a new home is ridiculous.
No it's not. Especially once you add in a home office and internal garage.
To say nothing of the Playroom, Media Room, and Panic Room.
If you have teenagers, you also "need" a second lounge.
Not really, the main problem is the size of the bedrooms are getting too small.
that's not true. all those new townhouses etc all have tiny living areas, usually can only host a couch.
I agree, living room size is the biggest issue
A decent bedroom is at least 3.4mx3.4m better still 3.6. Even where I am the only change I would make is another 200-300mm on the end of the bedroom so there is a bit more space to walk round the end of the bed. Lounge/kitchen is massive got spare sqm all over the place. Didn't bother with a dining table use one of the 3 kitchen bench stools. All depends on what you want, the house was designed by "Entertainers".
I build rentals and if I made the bedrooms bigger all it would do is encourage more people to live/stay there. A couple I rent to Islanders/,Phillipines families already have the bedrooms full of beds mattress on the floor that you can't move now
Lol is it the size of the bedrooms that encourages more people to stay there or the cost of homes that discourages them to stay elsewhere?
Yeah insane lack of awareness or empathy on display.
People can't shelter under empathy.
Me in a nutshell yes it does. Where these families have come from that is the way they live so the more room they see the more people that stay I know of one Phillipino family of 17 members living in a 3brm townhouse they love it (this is extended family).
So sayeth the over-leveraged.
Trying to imply everyone else should be happy with that silly situation?
Yeah, nah.
Who is over leveraged definitely not me. And it's their culture. How they live. Also with the Phillipinos family is very important to them so family is coming over all the time inlaws cousins etc. Might pay rather than judge you learn a thing or too.
There are always edge cases Colin, doesn’t make it the norm or something typical kiwi families should aspire to emulate, just so more lemmings jump off a cliff to save you.
In your opinion and all well and good sitting at a keyboard judging on how everyone should be but when it comes down to it cant/won't actually do anything but is always prepared to judge everyone else
Oh i get how other cultures live. I have no problem with that. I have lived marae style with family too.
The comment didn't really imply that it was a positive.
Maybe you could build a rental that would cater for them better, ie bigger bedrooms or one large open style room?
Comedy gold 🤣
Some people have no shame.
What are you even talking about? Shame about providing accommodation for people unable to build their own?
I've been looking at data recently of houses bought for over $1 million. 13 years ago 15% of houses bought in Auckland were over 1 mill, now it's about 65% are over $1 mill. I think this narrative of providing accommodation is disgusting its what Luxon speils and people who have pushed prices so high, poorer people now need to sleep in garages and packed bedrooms. Not to mention the proportion of disposable income which is going to the banks, cannot be spent on local business. Unfortunately these unintended consequences are what people voted for. Anecdotes at the water cooler says that people are spending less on little luxuries. While this may be good for banks, in the long term if small kiwi business mean much, then something may hit the fan.
I don't want them doing it it is their culture. Here's an example last yr rented a brand new 4brm house to a Phillipines couple with two children and a baby with a nephew here working. Go there 6mths later both her parents here for 3mths because of new baby and hew sister here for new job an until she gets her own place so her hubby and family can come over. Now did I put the rent up NO. Did I kick up a stink NO even thou my insurance company would have if the house burnt down they were happy all living in on top of each other in MY OPINION. So rather than Shame me might pay to get of your rear an actually do something constructive rather than sit at a keyboard thumping your chest been how pure you are
These days a laundry is just a cupboard - with a washing machine and drier (and a tub if you're lucky).
Gone also are soundproof brick outhouses. Now that really is lamentable......
TTP
TTP = Tough Tranquil Potty
Tooting his Trumpet in the Potty
Tortured Toilet Paper
Open plan living is overrated. Nothing quite like settling in for a movie and having the pots and plans clang and a dishwasher roaring away.
The dishwasher is the worst invention ever, seriously thought of chucking mine out the other day never used it once in 3 years and putting in a dual temperature zone wine fridge instead.
Zwifter KO pulls the dishwashers out of any new build they buy. As if it breaks down they have to repair it. And they are notorious for leaking which most people don't notice so causes major problems in the future
Actually modern dishwashers are very quiet nowadays. You practically have to stick your ear against them to hear if they are going.
Not to mention far more hygenic and water efficient
Unless your bedroom is open plan living, there's nothing stopping you from pressing the "Start" button on the dishwasher right before bedtime.
Even better, right before you leave for work.
Totally agree.
The incremental cost of adding space is far less than the average cost of building a house. No fixed costs, no set up costs and the big cost items are things like kitchens, bathrooms and fixtures. To make a room larger only takes a couple of sticks or 45x90 framing a bit of plaster board and a bit of concrete and carpet. More likely less than the square meter rate of a garage. You can keep on diminishing house sizes until you end up living in a shoe box, but under the current set up it will still end up costing a fortune.
Look at the cost from those house builders that publish them and you will see that the incremental cost per square meter is far lower than the average cost.
I see nothing to be gained by diminishing our comfort and lives for negligible savings and some weird sense of virtue. It is far more relevant to address the reasons for the sky high costs of land and materials.
I really hope you actually put your money where your mouth is. You wouldn't be a hypocrite that lives in a standalone house with a couple of cars in the burbs right?
My house is much smaller than that, I don't know what point you're trying to make?
So, you do live in a standalone house in the burbs. Couple cars in the driveway right?
absolutely. 295sqm is much better!
Not really once you have a family of 4, its too small and most cannot park a car in the garage. Living in a 175sqm on my own, got one bedroom as storage the other is the guest room can only get 1 car in the garage, the rest is a functional workshop and a gym. You pretty much can never have enough space once you have a hobby or two thrown in. House was designed by a "Bloke" with loads of off street parking for cars and a boat.
We were ok as a family of 4 in our 3 bedroom, 104 sq m townhouse. Sure it was a little bit tight.
Our son left home 2 years ago, with the three of us it’s a nice size
It's doable. But Krispy's comment that "195sqm for a new home is ridiculous" is off the mark in my opinion.
Our place is very well designed, and very efficient in terms of space. Only about 5-6 sq m is consumed by stairwell and corridor. We also have amazing attic storage which makes a big difference.
Attic is okay but not for everything as the temperature extremes are to high. Fitted out two in my life with a full runway and shelves and lighting but no need to do that anymore, a spare bedroom makes for better storage and a whole lot easier to access.
In the UK I have found that many people want standalone large houses, and hate living in small pokey terraced housing. NZ seems to be going in the opposite direction.
Agree, WellingtonInvestor, space is a luxury! I think that's one of the reasons that older villas in the posh areas of Auckland fetch huge money. 💰
Bring on bigger houses.
TTP
Where I grew up alot of Dutch families/farmers one family had 17 kids in 16 yrs with no twins in a 3bdrm one bathroom.
Thankfully living standards have improved in the 1st world since then, and that sort of thing wasn't uncommon in the US 100 years ago either. But that sort of thing is still probably common in third world countries.
This was in the 60s early 70s you know when man landed on the moon. And NZ had one of the highest standard of living so hardly 3rd world.
Lol bigger houses just need more stuff to fill them.
Son and I lived in an old airforce townhouse. 45sq foot print and 90sq total and an overall square dimension. 3 decent sized bedrooms upstairs with bathroom (WC and shower over bath), hallway closet and all bedrooms had large wardrobes. Downstairs lounge, dining room, kitchen, WC, under stairs walk-in storage. Carport with closed in laundry and storage room. Large backyard for play and gardening. Plenty of room in the carport for carpentry hobbies. Plenty of room for entertaining. Extremely efficient use of space.
All have been knocked down and replaced with oversized, overpriced terraced houses with zero outdoor living. Looks more like pretty hamster/rat/rabbit hutches.
They certainly don't build them like they used to. All depends how flexible and adaptable one chooses to be, what one's expectations are, how thankful one chooses to be for what they have.
When suppliers limit the options economics believes that's what the people are demanding.
Why do you need to a garage to park the car in? The one I bought a few years back is waterproof so I can park it outside. No one I know uses their garage for parking a car in, far more valuable uses.
Water is no longer the problem in New Zealand, its now the Sun. Fine if you only have the car a few years but longer term it stuffs everything from the interior dashboard to the paint to any rubber exposed to it. If you can park in the shade its better for sure.
Why? As people get older they spend more time in their house, and to live in a pokey little house, rather than having lots of room, could be oppressive. My parents live in a 360sqm house which has a lot of tiled spaces for thermal gain which you can't place furniture, and an internal glasshouse area for an all weather garden in the middle of the home. PLus a big garage for workshop and cars is included in that floor area. It doesn't feel too big either and allows a mutigeneration family to use it at certain times of the year, as well as inhome help to live if needed. People should be able to spend their money how they want.
And the quality has not improved all that much.
Speaking with a Scottish Architect recently, their first comment was just how poor the building standard was and referenced their 60year old family home in Scotland is warmer than some new builds here. Ha!
A lot of crap is being built in the UK recently. There was a good article in the Guardian. It’s a bit of a myth that British builds are brilliant compared to NZ, perhaps historically there was truth to it.
It's all relative. Certainly a lot more poor quality construction in the UK. Most new homes still brick and block though and older existing stock is stone, single or double skin brick. So it's a lot less likely you buy something where a significant portion of the superstructure is rooted without even knowing it.
Also the minimum standard in relation to building regs over there vs building code in NZ are world's apart. Particularly G4 and E3 clauses are embarrassing by international standards.
Dispute that ITV had a debate on houses quality etc in the UK a few months back. 1 in 10 houses thru out the UK need to be demolished because they were in such bad condition yet were still being lived in. Also all well and fine to heat your house in the UK that's if you can pay the gas bill
Developers building as many houses / apartments on a section as possible more likely the reason to maximise profit.
that's the real problem.
we tend to squeeze as many buildings as possible to land, and call it concentrated living. it's not when not finding balance of buildings and outdoor space.
We dont dare call it hidden inflation so lets call it 'shrinkflation'...30% inflation scaled down...30% smaller builds... The false economy powers on . US is spending large on war presently my guess is they will be expecting the global community to BEAR the cost...lol
At last sanity prevails. Redick that average house size was increasing at the same time as average house occupancy was been decreasing. All these couples building 5 bedroom mansions because 'thats what the market wants' and i will want to sell one day.
Not really 5 bedroom mansions. But the FHB 3 bed 1 bath is dead and replaced by the 3 bed 2 bath home. Single garages are now double or triples. Most upsizers are building 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 lounge homes with butlers pantries. All offset by the 70 sqm 2 bed townhouses with no backyard or garage being built to house the peasants who rent. The days when renters got to enjoy a proper house with a backyard for their kids to play in while Dad tinkers in the garage are long gone.
Still it could be worse. We are still some ways away from building huge concrete towers to house the renters in tiny 1 and 2 bed apartments with no balconies. However, as the corporate "build to rent" model takes off you can expect the towers to start appearing, and renters will have no choice but to live in them.
After living on a boat for 6 months, my take would be small spaces are great, it forces you to be minimalist, you dont accumulate endless crap. The proviso for me is you need a really good outdoor space be it shared or private or you may go mad.
Try that as a family or 4 or 5 and you'll likely change your mind
We had 5 adults aboard for a month. Roughly 40m2 internally, 50m2 externally. I bought my kids up in 100m2, 4 of us.
Agreed to the outdoor space (also, we considered switching to a boat ourselves).
We tried living small - based on ideals - and it didn't work with young children. Though, house was a tad smaller than the 84m2 3-bedder my family of 8 grew up in. I guess the main difference was the 30m2 lawn vs the fenced 1/4 acre ...
We relocated to a much larger house on a larger section and haven't looked back.
I would love to see the data for standalone houses only. From what I observe, the cost of consents mean that no one is building 3 bdrm, 1 bathroom first homes anymore. economy of scales.
Nobody wants a 3 bed 1 bath anymore, that's a suicide build for resale. It needs to be 3 bed, 2 bathrooms with walk in wardrobe minimum. Considering a bathroom is tiny and only a few sqm it would be nuts not to have it. Getting harder to directly compare new build prices with older houses then, you now need to look at floor area and most definitely the size of the section and how many neighbours you now need to put up with.
Not sure about that old fibre board house with 2 bedrooms priced at 700k just up the road. Not sure they will get that but price expectations are high. But in NZ our old rubbish houses are selling at right price. Loads of 70s ugly houses selling, 3 bed, 1bath.
Hi Baptist, if you click on the links in the story that will take you through to the tables where the full data is available by dwelling type - houses, apartments, townhouses etc. The same data can also be broken down into the main urban districts - Auckland, Waikato, BoP, Wellington, etc by clicking on the links for the regional data tables.
some areas require tiny homes to have consent so would they be included? wouldnt take many to drag the average down.
And hilariously, people still expect these tiny shoeboxes on postage stamp sections to appreciate in value at the same rate of standalone houses on full sections. Hot tip, they won't.
That's because all the increase in value comes from the increase in land value.
One could suggest that once the land is fully occupied by a dwelling it no longer has "value". Now only the dwelling has value as a home, unless it's all about capital gains. Flawed economics.
It comes more from a better "Lifestyle" and the more shit they build that turns into a slum in 15 years time and need demolishing the more the decent stand alone properties will go up in value.
Given the impact on kiwi's budgets, and build costs impact rental rates, does this not show that the CPI is not fit for purpose
local inflation hidden by imported deflation but having a much bigger impact on people than the stats reveal
Auckland Council development charge per new house in Drury $75,000 plus whatever charges they throw at you.
I wouldn't pay ridiculous amounts to live that far south.
Perhaps now you should be measuring real cost of houses in $ per square metre of floor space. Which will show how ludicrous price is for a shoe box. They get smaller precisely because that is all people can afford. So getting less for more. A fitting indictment of NZ rotten housing non system
Cost is going up by the sqm because when you go from single level to two levels that ads a approx $1000 sqm plus with going to triple glaze also higher R value insulation. And alot homes in the future will need 140 by 50 (6by2) exterior walls as the thicker insulation will need to be accommodated. Imagine lifting those frames into place so you will see more reduction in sqm of houses. But also you might see better utilization of space. The house I am finishing at the moment is 124 sqm plus 24 sqm single garage. The house is 4brms with ensuite but every sqm is utilized. Has 51 sqm deck as well
140 framing isn't an issue and my house was built with it to enable higher R value. In the UK most houses seem to use double brick which is a lot thicker than that. I think you can get higher R value insulation that will fit into 90 wide framing.
It's an issue in adding cost compared to 90 by 45 and my draughtsman and building inspector are pretty adamant that all exterior framing will be 140. By the way have you ever stood full frames up that's with dwangs/nogs full lintel wet frames and that's just 90 by 45. Another thing is I usually build on piles with triple glazing and 140 framing I will have to beef it up even more so again more costs it all adds up and it's not in wages as alot of people who ain't in the construction industry think
Total overkill unless you are in the South island at somewhere like Queenstown or Wanaka where you get snow on your lawn. Modern building standards and double glazing is more than enough in most places, the difference in cost will run your heatpump for a lifetime should you even need it to.
Greg, if the idea of this sort of article is clickbait, then fine. But as a type of analysis, it is poor.
Because as you know, attached garages are counted in the $m2 rate so as soon as you go to detached as in an apartment then the parking is not counted, even though it may be in underground parking or a separate carport etc, plus any storage locker.
Plus the $m2 rate of the apartment goes up because it does not include the lower garage $m2 space. and of course with more interparty walls, health and safety costs increase.
Plus there this a correlation between the growth in offsite storage facilities and downgrading to smaller house sizes. Again this space and cost is not counted in the stats.
After you have taken into account all of the above, you can then discuss the reduction in wanted/needed space just to fit into what people can afford.
Then further, the extra $m2 cost does not differentiate between extra bureaucratic and poor land use policy costs that only add cost but not further amenity value, and those extra $m2 costs like higher insulation requirements that do add amenity value.
In summary, we are getting less than we want/need and having to pay more for it than we need.
Exactly, per m2 costs do not increase or decrease in a liner fashion
Tony is still bullish but starting to throw a few caveats out there, lol
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/tony-alexander-three-global-threats-that…
“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.” ― Warren Buffett
Not only this but they are being built at ground level on concrete pads in areas that flooded earlier this year i.e clevedon and mangere in auckland
I don't think that the figures for new houses should include apartments and multi-units, as they are number of those have increased substantially. A house is something that is standalone or semi detached, and I don't think they have decreased in size on average anywhere near as much these figures would indicate. Apartments / units are always going to be smaller than houses, and as the number of those have increased substantially, they do throw the average figures way off. Although it depends what narrative one is trying to show with the stats.
This article is about the average size of "homes". I know it seems a disgusting idea to some, but you can make a pleasant home in an appartment.
Furthmore, the article does also give the figure for standalone houses, so if you want to ignore half the kiwi homes being built, just look at that figure, which has also decreased, but yes, that segment has decreased less than the decrease across all homes.
There's even an article on interest.co.nz that discusses it all here: https://www.interest.co.nz/property/125115/size-new-homes-declining-whi…
Agreed regarding making a pleasant home in an apartment. There are a handful of existing developments in Auckland with high-spec fittings, designed with livability and sustainability in mind. It appears there's already traction gaining for considered living and using spaces efficiently in other parts of the world (so I think it's a matter of time before NZ must do more to catch up) - check out Never Too Small, a group that showcases designs from around the world that are considered, within smaller footprints and are often even luxurious, by making each square meterage multi-functional. I often look at stand-alone houses and wonder when was the last time that patch of front lawn was used (actually used, not just for grass to grow on or occasionally walk over) - or I would wonder how many spaces inside that house serve only one or no actual function. Nevertheless, so many of us are duped into thinking paying rates, and other outgoings on spaces that are barely used is a good or sustainable way to live.
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