The number of residential building consents issued throughout the country dipped slightly in June compared to May, but was up in Auckland and flat in Christchurch.
The latest figures from Statistics NZ show that 2042 new residential dwellings were consented in June, down from the 2171 consented in May and only slightly up on the 2002 consented in June last year but well up on the 1539 consented in June 2013.
In Auckland there were 704 homes consented in June compared with 651 in May and 599 in June last year, while in Christchurch 344 homes were consented in June, almost unchanged from the 341 consented in May and down form the 382 consented in June last year.
A big driver of the new consents issued in Auckland was a sharp jump in the number issued in the city's Albany ward, where 263 new dwelling consents were issued last month, accounting for 37.5% of new homes consented in the region.
However the number of new homes being consented in Auckland continues to fall well short of what is required to meet the region's immigration-fuelled population growth.
It is estimated that 13,000 new homes a year are needed in Auckland just to keep pace with current population growth, which is an average of 1083 consents a month.
That means that current consents were just under two thirds of what is required, which suggests Auckland's housing crisis is continuing to worsen, and the supply of new homes will need to increase by around 50% from current levels before demand and supply start to get back into any sort of equilibrium.
Consents were up in Tauranga, with 120 issued in June compared with 105 in May and 78 in June last year.
Consents dropped sharply in the Wellington region with just 88 issued last month compared compared with 150 in May and 118 in June last year.
That was below the number issued in Otago where 126 consents were issued in June, down from 145 issued in May and 121 in June last year.
Of the 2042 dwelling consents issued throughout the country, 1502 were for stand alone houses, 70 were for apartments, 159 were for retirement village units and 311 were for townhouses, flats and home units.
The total value of residential building consents issued last month was $689 million for new homes plus another $143 million of structural alteration work to existing properties.
Building consents - residential
Select chart tabs
Our free Property email newsletter brings you all the stories about residential and commercial property and the forces that move these huge markets. Sign up here.
To subscribe to our Property newsletter, enter your email address here. It's free.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.