Non-residential building consents
Non-residential consents rebound to near record-high
4 May 2023
Our take on the latest Non-residential building consents (Thu 4 May 2023)
Value of non-res consents
$1,033m
In March 2023
Social building consents up 97%pa in March quarter
Non-residential alterations consents up 9.4%pa in March quarter
The key numbers...
- Total non-residential building consents worth over $1.0b were issued in March, a 2.1% increase from February after adjusting for seasonal factors. New non-residential consents of $704m were issued in March, a 10% decline from February (seasonally adjusted). Consents for non-residential alterations and additions totalled $329m in March, a 33% increase from February (seasonally adjusted).
- Social, cultural and religious building consents increased 97% in the March quarter, compared to the previous year. Social, cultural and religious consents totalled $417m in the three months ended March 2023, with $294m worth of consents issued in the March month alone. Factory and office consents declined 4.5% and 7.0%pa respectively in the March quarter, continuing to soften from recent highs.
- Non-residential consents in the major centres of Auckland and Wellington eased in the March quarter, down 20% and 3.5% compared to the same period last year. Consents in the most Cyclone-affected regions, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, fell 79% and 42%pa in the March quarter.
- Non-residential consents in regions just to the north and south of Auckland showed strong increases, despite the decline in Auckland itself, with Northland and Waikato consents up 70% and 78%pa in the three months to March. Consents in Canterbury were also strong, up 121%pa in the March quarter.
Factory and office consents ease from recent highs
Non-residential consent values, year-end % changes
...and our reaction
- Total non-residential consent values increased strongly again in March 2023, though high building cost inflation means nominal value growth continues to obscure the underlying volume of consented non-residential construction work.
- Non-residential build types which were strong over the last three years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as factory and office building consents, are starting to ease. This is unlikely to be supported by higher health or education consent values, as publicly funded non-residential building activity remains softer. Furthermore, the tourism recovery has yet to filter through to higher hotel consents, which are still much lower than pre-pandemic levels.
- Overall, this re-affirms our outlook for non-residential building over the next two years, where we anticipate more challenging economic conditions will slow the volume of non-residential building consents. However, actual non-residential building activity will be supported over the next 12 months by a strong pipeline of previously consented work.
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Non-residential building consents
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$701m Value of non-res consents in June 2026
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Non-residential building consents
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