New Zealand battles housing crisis with record building consents

New Zealand's construction industry is entering a boom with consents for new homes hitting a 10-year high in November last year, according to figures from the government statistics agency Monday.

"Dwelling consents were up 17 percent from the year before, driven by increases for houses and retirement village units," Statistics New Zealand business indicators manager Clara Eatherley said.

A total of 2,831 new dwellings were consented in November - the most in a month since March 2005, when 3,027 new dwellings were consented.

The biggest city of Auckland, which is at the center of a national housing crisis, and the earthquake-battered Canterbury region as well as the capital, Wellington, saw most of the consents for new homes.

A total of 1.1 billion NZ dollars (718 million U.S. dollars) of residential building work and 531 million NZ dollars (346.59 million U.S. dollars) of non-residential work was consented in November.

"This is the first time that residential building consents have passed the billion-dollar mark," Eatherley said.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said the figures were very encouraging and the 26,793 consents for new homes issued in the year to November was the highest annual figure in more than a decade.

The November figures were 21 percent higher than October 2015 and 17 percent higher than November 2014, Smith said.

"I am particularly encouraged by the 966 new home consents in Auckland as it is getting close to the 1,000 per month we need to match demand for new housing," he said.

"We need to keep our foot on the accelerator to ensure we support this positive momentum."