Former housing minister Nick Smith, now building & construction minister, heaps praise on himself for a job extremely well done: “Building activity is at a record high, topping $19 billion for 2016 after 5 straight years of strong growth”.
But we all know it’s not true. Although Dr Smith said of yesterday’s building consent report that the figures he was quoting were “in inflation-adjusted terms”, both he & the rest of New Zealand know construction costs, land prices & house prices have been distorted way beyond the realm of the Reserve Bank’s narrow inflation focus.
It’s a sector which can be measured very accurately, but the figures Statistics NZ releases monthly on building consents for new homes carry distortions because of how applications are made. In some cases such as staged developments, consent applications & costs may be reported in different time periods. However, over a year, I suspect it’s reasonable to use these figures to carry out the calculations I’ve done here on changes in floor areas, values and values/m² of construction. The value of land is excluded from building consent figures.
Going back to the bottom of the market following the global financial crisis, 2011, the statistics show an average floor area of 191.6m². It rose the next year, declined for 3 years and recovered slightly in 2016. The percentage changes were rises of 2.9% in the first year and 1.8% in the last year, but falls of 2.7%, 2.6% & 4.3% in the intervening years.
The average value/dwelling was just under $280,000 in 2011, and rose in steps of $6600-16,000 during the next 4 years, equating to gains of 5.75%, 3.3%, 4% & 2%. Then, in 2016, the average jumped $31,000 to $355,300, a leap of 9.6%.
Putting those figures together to see what the consent value/m² has been, the starting point in 2011 was $1459/m². The end point, the average for 2016, was $1951/m² – a rise of $492/m² over 5 years, or 34%. In the first year off the market bottom the rise was 2.75%, but it’s since been consistently above 6% – 6.15% in 2013, then 6.75%, 6.71% and, last year, 7.67%.
An important factor in the equation is the falling proportion of total housing categorised as houses, distinct from 3 intensive categories – apartments, retirement village units and suburban townhouses & units – all of which generally have smaller floorplates than the average house but will generally be priced more highly per m² of building. The houses category fell from 81% of all housing consents in 2011 (when the apartment sector almost disappeared) to 71% in 2016.
Dr Smith habitually talks about consent figures as if they were actual construction. Statistics NZ doesn’t supply regular figures which would show the percentage of consents that turn into actual construction. Those percentages vary cyclically, according to figures I’ve seen long ago – heading into the peak of a boom the consent figures will have risen steeply, but once the boom ends actual construction can plummet.
In his release on the consent figures yesterday, Dr Smith said: “This is the longest & strongest growth phase in building activity in New Zealand history. It involves record levels of investment in homes, commercial buildings & infrastructure. The total value of consents in 2016, at $19 billion [for all consents, not just residential], is the highest ever and 30% more than the previous peak last decade, in inflation-adjusted terms.
“I am particularly encouraged by the ongoing strong growth in residential building activity, that has increased 19% nationally & 27% in Auckland over the past year. This is the fifth straight year of strong growth. You cannot grow a sector as large or as complex as building at more than about 20% compound/year without incurring problems with quality.
“The number of homes being built in 2016 – 29,970 nationally & 9930 in Auckland – is more than double that of 5 years ago and is the highest since 2004. This growth gives me confidence we will have the number of homes increasing in line with population growth by the end of the year.
“This ongoing strong growth shows the Government’s programme to increase housing supply is working. We have aggressively increased land supply with special housing areas in the short term, changes to Auckland’s planning in the medium term, and the national policy statement on urban development capacity & Resource Management Act reforms in the long term.
“We have complemented this with the Crown land programme and a record level of direct Government projects to build homes, such as Hobsonville. We’ve also provided record levels of assistance for first-homebuyers with the KiwiSaver HomeStart scheme, which has helped more than 20,000 people into their first home with about $500 million in KiwiSaver withdrawals for a deposit.
“This Government is, step by step, development by development, getting on and addressing New Zealand’s housing challenges.”
The figure of $19 billion includes $12.5 billion for new homes and alterations & additions to homes, $6 billion for non-residential buildings and just under half a billion dollars for non-building construction. The housing component has been rising rapidly – by 25.4% in 2012, 28% in 2013, then 20.5%, 10.5% and, last year, 19.1%.
The non-residential sector had 2 strong years – rises of 21.5% in 2014 & 15.9% in 2015, but was down to a 1.7% rise last year.
Related story today: Townhouses & flats dominate shift in home styles
Attribution: Statistics NZ tables & release, ministerial release.
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