More consents have been granted for new houses to be built in Auckland than ever before, according to new figures from Statistics NZ.
Last year, 15,154 new homes were consented in Auckland alone - twice as many as just five years ago.
The figures include both stand-alone houses and multi-home units such as apartments, townhouses and retirement village units.
Five years ago, 7632 new houses were consented in Auckland.
The previous peak was in the mid-1970s, with around 13,000 homes consented, Statistics NZ says.
"Auckland’s population doubled over this time and is now about 1.6 million," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said today.
"Auckland consented almost three-quarters of New Zealand’s apartments, and about half the country’s townhouses, flats, and units in 2019."
The Auckland properties make up almost a third of the homes consented across the whole country last year (37,538).
Waikato, Wellington and Otago also hit record highs last year, with 4251, 3174 and 2286 consented respectively.
But all those new homes aren't quashing the market. Both the average and median price in Auckland this year have climbed on last year.
The average price has crept up 2.6 per cent to $951,631, while the median price has jumped 6.9 per cent to $885,500, Barfoot and Thompson said today.
Managing director Peter Thompson described the Auckland housing market as having an "extremely confident start to the year".
"Buyers were active across all price segments and were prepared to pay near record prices," he says.
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