Our take on the latest Residential building consents (Tue 3 Mar 2026)
Dwelling consents
Dwelling consents
Annual townhouse consents
36,944
1.9%
14%Over the year to January 2026
From December 2025 (seasonally adjusted)
From the year to January 2025
The key numbers...
- There were 2,528 new dwelling consents issued in January, up 15% from January 2025. This further improvement saw annual consents rise to 36,944 over the year to January 2026, up 9.3%.
- Dwelling consents rose 1.9% in January 2026, from December 2025, but this lift came after a 4.6% fall in December (all seasonally adjusted). Monthly consents have held relatively steady since September 2025, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Accordingly, the double-digit annual growth in consents largely dates from mid-2025.
- Consents grew for all dwelling types except retirement units in the year to January 2026. Townhouses were the clear leader, growing 14% and adding 1,965 consents from the prior year. Standalone consents rose 5.0%, adding 790 consents. Apartments consents rose 26% but only added 510 consents.
- Retirement village unit consents have been falling for more than two years, declining from 6.3% of all dwelling consents in January 2023 to 4.3% in January 2026.
- Auckland continues to lead consents, accounting for 59% of the national increase in consents over the year to January 2026. Auckland consents rose 13%, followed by Canterbury with 12%.
...and our reaction
- We anticipated the relative strength in townhouse consents in our forecast, and we expect townhouses to continue leading standalone house consents over the coming year.
- Dwelling consents mounted an impressive early recovery through mid-2025, but we haven’t seen any consistent growth since September 2025. With lacklustre house prices and the prospect of rising interest rates, we still expect consent growth to peter out later in 2026.
- It’s surprising to see Auckland leading the recovery in residential consents by such a large degree, when the region has one the weakest economies. Auckland accounted for nearly two thirds of national dwelling consent growth in the year to January 2026, but the region’s employment fell 0.9%pa in the year to December 2025. Canterbury accounted for 25% of the growth in dwelling consents and is, in contrast, one of the strongest regional economies at present.
Latest updates
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Fri 1 May 2026
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37,813 Annual consents over March 2026 year3,300pm Consents trend sideways on a seas. adj. basis14%pa Townhouse consents over March 2026 yearPremium
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Wed 1 Apr 2026
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37,534 Dwelling consents over the year to February 20262.7% Dwelling consents from January 2026 (seasonally adjusted)23% Annual dwelling consents from the year to February 2025Residential building consents
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Tue 3 Feb 2026
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36,619 Dwelling consents over the year to December 2025
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