Building consents top 24,000 per year

Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed the latest figures from Statistics New Zealand that show strong annual growth in the number of building consents.

"There were 24,046 building consents issued across the country in the year to September 2014. This is a six-year high, and reflects an increase of 22 per cent on the same period last year," Dr Smith says.

"The rate of building consents in Auckland, meanwhile, are at an eight-year high, with 7320 consents issued in the year to September 2014 - 30 per cent more than the previous year.

"Christchurch continues to lead the country with the post-earthquake rebuild effort moving at pace. The 3954 consents issued in the past year reflects an annual increase of 97 per cent and is the highest number of consents issued in the city in any 12-month period on record.

"These figures confirm the direction of the Government's reforms to address New Zealand's housing supply and affordability challenge. We have agreed six Housing Accords in the past 12 months to work together with local councils to free up land supply and speed up consenting processes.

"We are reducing building materials costs, reining in development contribution contributions, cutting compliance costs and investing in skills and productivity in the construction sector.

“We are also planning reforms to the Resource Management Act to recognise the importance of New Zealanders’ access to more affordable housing.

"Today's figures come on the back of the second National Construction Pipeline report that points to a $100 billion boom for New Zealand's building and construction sector over the next three years.

"The Government remains committed to keeping its foot on the accelerator to support this momentum."