New dwelling consents across New Zealand’s 16 regions. Data from Stats NZ, updated monthly. Select a region to see its 24-month trend and year-on-year comparison. The map is coloured by year-on-year change in consent numbers.
Year-on-year change by region
24-month trend
Data source: Stats NZ — Building Consents Issued. Shows new dwelling units (houses, apartments, townhouses, and retirement village units) consented each month. Map colour shows percentage change in consents for the most recent 12 months compared with the 12 months before. Updated monthly.
Understanding New Zealand Building Consents
Building consents are the formal approvals issued by local councils before construction or alteration of a building can begin. Stats NZ collects and publishes the number of consents issued across New Zealand each month, typically releasing the previous month’s data on the first business day of the following month.
Consent numbers are a leading indicator of construction activity. Each consent represents a project that will likely translate into actual building work in the following months. Economists, property investors, builders, and policymakers track consent data closely because it signals the direction of the residential construction pipeline months before the homes themselves appear.
What the Numbers Show
The figures on this page represent new dwelling units consented — meaning new homes, not alterations or commercial buildings. This includes standalone houses, apartments, townhouses, and retirement village units. It does not include garages, sheds, or extensions to existing homes.
Comparing a region to its own recent history is usually more useful than comparing one region against another. A 20 percent year-on-year rise in consents in Southland tells a different and more useful story than the raw number alone. The map on this page is coloured to show exactly that: the percentage change in consents for the most recent 12 months against the 12 months before.
Building sector dashboard
Three companion trackers covering different sides of the NZ construction industry. Consents tell you what is coming; work put in place tells you what is being built now; costs tell you how much it costs to do it; jobs tell you who is doing it.
Consents vs Work Put in Place
The pipeline (consents) plotted against actual activity (work put in place). Gap shows whether the sector is building up or burning through its backlog.
Building input cost tracker
PPI inputs, CGPI output prices, and LCI construction wages, quarterly since 2015. Shows the 2022 cost surge in context and where pressure sits today.
Construction sector jobs
Filled jobs and wage growth in the construction industry. From 155k in 2015 to a 245k peak in 2023 and down around 37k since.
About the Data
Data on this page comes directly from Stats NZ’s monthly Building Consents Issued release, available at stats.govt.nz. This page updates automatically each month after Stats NZ publishes new data.
Regional boundaries shown on the map are New Zealand’s 16 regional council areas, which are the standard geographical divisions used for statistical reporting.