Last year New Zealand had the highest number of new home consents since the mid-1970s.
The number of new homes consented in the year ended November 2019 reached 37,010, according to the latest data from Stats NZ.
It’s the first time in 45-years that New Zealand’s annual number of new homes consented has risen over 37,000, as the country continues to experience a housing crisis.
There were 37,919 new homes consented in the year ended September 1974, while the overall record is still 40,025 in the February 1974 year.
The population of New Zealand in the mid-1970s was around three million, compared with about 4.9 million today.
Tagata Pasifika spoke to an Auckland family of six forced to sleep in one room due to a lack of available housing.
Stats NZ findings show the number of new homes has been generally increasing since late 2011, coming off lows in 2009 and 2011 when fewer than 14,000 new homes were consented annually.
Thirteen percent more new homes were consented in the November 2019 year nationally, compared with a year ago.
The Wellington region saw 3,036 new homes consented in the latest year, the highest annual number since over 4,000 new homes were consented in the mid-1970s.
Auckland saw 14,866 new consents in the year ended November 2019 while Waikato had 4,176 and Canterbury had 5,310.
SHARE ME