New Zealand’s annual number of homes down 22 pct in year ending in July

WELLINGTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — New Zealand saw 33,921 new homes consented in the year ending in July 2024, down 22 percent year on year, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Friday.
“The number of homes consented was down 22 percent on an annual basis, despite an increase in the July 2024 month,” Stats NZ construction and property statistics manager Michael Heslop said.
Among the new homes consented in the cited period, there were 18,503 multi-unit homes such as townhouses, apartments, retirement village units, and flats, down 28 percent, and 15,418 stand-alone houses, down 14 percent, Heslop said.
In July, there were 3,352 new homes, up 9.6 percent, he said, adding a higher number of working days contributed to the increase, which means more time for building consent authorities to issue consents for new homes.
The number of homes consented each month can vary significantly due to the timing of large projects, Heslop said.
The decreased number of homes consented is bad news for New Zealand’s construction industry, with many companies having to close and around 8,000 fewer people employed in the sector since last November. ■