Consents for new homes hit a 14-year high for the year to December, representing just under 33,000 new houses, driven by increases in Auckland and Wellington, which were up 18% and 19% respectively.
Otago and Southland ran against the grain. Both were well down on the previous year in both volume and value, while nationally the number of new homes consented rose 6.1% in the year to 2018, against the previous year to December.
StatsNZ construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said the number of new homes consented in 2018 was the highest in more than 14 years.
The all-time record goes back to 1974, when 40,025 new homes were consented.
Otago consent numbers for December fell from 169 a year ago to 59, while the value declined from $80 million to $59 million. Similarly, Southland's fell from 33 to 16 and the value from $12 million to $7 million.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said national residential building consents lifted in December, which meant 2018 finished on a strong note.
"We expect residential housing construction to remain relatively elevated for some time in order for housing supply to catch up with pent-up demand,'' he said in a statement yesterday.
Mr Tuffley said demand for stand-alone houses had remained "broadly steady'' during the past year, while growth in demand was largely met through more consents for apartments and town houses.
During the past six months the demand for dwelling consents had been "broadly flat'', which reinforced ASB's view that residential construction activity was likely to be close to a peak.
"Nonetheless, we expect the overall level of residential construction to remain high for some time to come over 2019, with housing supply shortages in Auckland spilling over into Wellington and some of the regions, reflecting the recent lift in population growth in these areas,'' he said.
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said the 5.1% gain in residential dwelling consents issued in December was buoyed by a gain in the apartments/multiples building category.
"While issuance levels are elevated, it's not obvious that they will continue to push higher over the coming year,'' he said in a statement.
In Auckland, which accounted for most of the increase, there had been a levelling off in in recent months.
"It looks unlikely that issuance numbers will break significantly higher over the coming year,'' Mr Ranchhod said.
- New homebuilding permits fell in Australia for the second month running to a five and a-half-year low point as credit tightened and house prices continued to slide, AAP reported.
December's seasonally adjusted 8.4% decline in building and renovation approvals to 13,995 continued November's slide. Approvals are now down 22.5% over 12 months, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday.
A near 20% drop in the apartment sector was the main factor driving total approvals to their lowest levels since June 2013.
