Wellington: New Zealand saw 2,850 new homes consented last month, down 6.9 percent compared with October 2023, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Monday. The decline highlights a shifting trend in the country’s housing market.
According to Namibia Press Agency, a total of 1,487 multi-unit homes, including townhouses, apartments, retirement village units, and flats, were consented in October 2024, marking an 18 percent decrease compared to October 2023. In contrast, there were 1,363 stand-alone houses consented, reflecting an 8.6 percent increase compared with the previous year. Stats NZ noted that the number of stand-alone houses consented each month has been consistently higher than the same month of the previous year since July 2024.
Annually, the data shows that there were 33,467 new homes consented in the year ended October 2024, representing a 16 percent decline compared with the year ended October 2023, as stated by Stats NZ economic indicators spokesperson Michael Heslop. Of these new
homes, 15,883 were stand-alone houses, down 2.8 percent compared to the year ended October 2023. Meanwhile, 17,584 were multi-unit homes, which saw a 25 percent decrease over the same period. Heslop highlighted that while multi-unit homes have been consented in higher numbers than stand-alone houses since early 2022 on an annual basis, the gap between the two is gradually narrowing.
