2025 by the numbers

Housing consents data reports have painted 2025 as a transition year. In recalibration mode after the post-COVID surge, annual figures show around 33,000 homes consented year-on-year. The sector sentiment is ‘proceed with caution’, but perhaps slow stability is welcome after the 2021 peak and 2023 freefall.

National housing momentum is moving down south. Queenstown stood out in 2025 with its highest consents on record. Consents in Otago, Tasman and Canterbury keep inching up. Generally, Kiwis are leaving expensive northern centres for more affordable southern towns. In some places, that means infrastructure strains in smaller centres that can’t keep up with new demand.

There’s an affordability paradox in homebuilding: land and section prices are down 15% from mid-2022, but build costs remain historically high. Building a standard 200m² home now costs nearly $130,000 more than in 2022. QV CostBuilder showed 44% cost increases over four years.

H2: Townhouses dominate new builds

A townhouse boom characterises 2025’s residential consents statistics: almost one in four Christchurch properties is a townhouse, and the latest Stats NZ data shows they continue to account for the majority of new builds consented nationwide.

There were 35,552 new homes consented in New Zealand in the year ended October 2025, up 6.2% compared with the year ended October 2024. “The lift we are seeing this year is being driven by higher-density homes rather than traditional stand-alone houses,” economic indicators spokesperson Michelle Feyen said.

She said townhouses, flats, and units were driving the rise in homes consented to, supported by a rebound in apartment consents. The Auckland region accounted for half of the rise.

H2: Construction workforce ageing out

Nearly 20% of construction workers will reach retirement age within a decade, and the number of young people entering the sector lags behind, according to 2023 MBIE data. In 2025, a major industry focus was attracting younger workers, including through the government’s Apprenticeship Boost Programme.

Phil Brosnan, Chair of BCITO Ltd, was pleased that the Government announced BCITO would become a Private Training Establishment starting in 2026. BCITO says the timing is significant: construction accounts for 10% of the national workforce, and how tradies are moving overseas needs to change.

“We now have an exciting road ahead, able to put all our focus on improving outcomes for apprentices, employers and the building and construction sector, and lifting productivity. The construction sector will soon be back in full growth mode, with new housing consents already rising more than 27% in September, compared with the same time last year. That won’t just affect the industry, but the whole national economy,” he said.