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Multi-unit share of new residential building consents
Ticker:
townhouse-share • Observation Period: September 2026 (Period End: 2026-09-30) • Last Checked: 10 November 2026 • Creator: Andy PalliserAlso known as: Non-standalone dwelling consent share & townhouse/flat/unit share (Stats NZ)
In September 2026, 51.5% (1,837 of 3,570) of new residential dwelling consents were for multi-unit homes—with townhouses, flats, and units accounting for 36.6% (1,305) and apartments plus retirement village units accounting for 14.9% (532).
Official dataStats NZ Building Consents (September 2026): Total dwellings = 3,570; Stand-alone houses = 1,733; Townhouses, flats & units = 1,305; Apartments & retirement units = 532.
HLF calculation
Multi-unit overall: (3,570 − 1,733) ÷ 3,570 = 1,837 ÷ 3,570 = 51.5% | Townhouses/flats/units: 1,305 ÷ 3,570 = 36.6%HLF interpretationHLF market context: The share of multi-unit consents reflects the composition of consented new housing supply across stand-alone houses, townhouses/flats/units, apartments, and retirement village units.
Cite as: HLF Pulse, Home Loan Factory. "Multi-unit share of new residential building consents," September 2026. Derived by HLF from Stats NZ — Building Consents Issued. https://pulse-data.homeloanfactory.co.nz/townhouse-share/ (checked 10 November 2026). CC BY 4.0.
Created by Andy Palliser
Creator of HLF Pulse
Mortgage & KiwiSaver Adviser · Home Loan Factory (Andrew Jonathan Palliser, FSP1004725) • Published by HLF (Home Loan Factory)
Data Dictionary Specification (4-Field Date Standard)
| Name | Multi-unit share of new residential building consents |
|---|---|
| Ticker | townhouse-share |
| Also known as | Non-standalone dwelling consent share & townhouse/flat/unit share (Stats NZ) |
| Creator & Publisher | Created by Andy Palliser (Andrew Jonathan Palliser, FSP1004725) • Published by HLF (Home Loan Factory) |
| Official source & series | Stats NZ (Stats NZ — Building Consents Issued) • Series IDs: Stats NZ Dwelling Type Breakdown |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| 1. Observation period | September 2026 (YYYY-MM code: 2026-09) — when the underlying statistic relates to |
| 2. Period end | 2026-09-30 — final calendar date covered by the observation period |
| 3. Source publication date | Monthly Stats NZ Building Consents release (~4 weeks after reference month-end) — when the original organisation released this dataset |
| 4. Last checked | 10 November 2026 (2026-11-10) — when HLF last verified the official source |
| Definition | The HLF-derived percentage of new residential building consents in New Zealand issued for multi-unit/non-standalone dwellings overall (townhouses, flats, units, apartments, and retirement village units), alongside the specific share for townhouses, flats, and units. |
| Methodology | Derived from Stats NZ monthly building consent counts by dwelling type. |
| Current value | Multi-unit overall: 51.5% (1,837/3,570) | Townhouses/flats/units: 36.6% (1,305/3,570) |
| Comparison / Prior period | Stand-alone houses: 48.5% (1,733/3,570) • Apartments & retirement village units: 14.9% (532/3,570) |
| Official data | Stats NZ Building Consents (September 2026): Total dwellings = 3,570; Stand-alone houses = 1,733; Townhouses, flats & units = 1,305; Apartments & retirement units = 532. |
| HLF calculation | Multi-unit overall: (3,570 − 1,733) ÷ 3,570 = 1,837 ÷ 3,570 = 51.5% | Townhouses/flats/units: 1,305 ÷ 3,570 = 36.6%Formula: Multi-unit overall = (Total Consents − Stand-Alone Houses) ÷ Total Consents; Townhouses/flats/units specifically = Townhouses/Flats/Units ÷ Total Consents |
| HLF interpretation | HLF market context: The share of multi-unit consents reflects the composition of consented new housing supply across stand-alone houses, townhouses/flats/units, apartments, and retirement village units. |
| HLF derived | Yes (Officially reported counts & HLF-derived multi-unit and townhouse/flat/unit shares) |
| Cite as | HLF Pulse, Home Loan Factory. "Multi-unit share of new residential building consents," September 2026. Derived by HLF from Stats NZ — Building Consents Issued. https://pulse-data.homeloanfactory.co.nz/townhouse-share/ (checked 10 November 2026). CC BY 4.0. |
| Reuse licence | CC BY 4.0 (HLF-derived calculations, definitions & commentary; official statistics credited to Stats NZ) • Media Kit & Citation Guide |
| Historical data | Stats NZ monthly release (September 2026) |
Questions This Data Helps Answer
- What percentage of new homes consented in New Zealand are multi-unit dwellings?
- What percentage of new dwelling consents are specifically townhouses, flats, and units?
Source & Tool Verification Chain
1. Official Source & SeriesStats NZ — Building Consents Issued
Series:
Stats NZ Dwelling Type Breakdown2. HLF Transformation
Yes
Multi-unit overall = (Total Consents − Stand-Alone Houses) ÷ Total Consents; Townhouses/flats/units specifically = Townhouses/Flats/Units ÷ Total Consents4. Interactive CalculatorTurnkey vs. Construction Loan Calculator
How Dates Are Recorded in HLF Pulse (4-Field Date Standard)
To prevent confusion between when an economic activity occurred and when a government agency published its release, every HLF Pulse record separates four distinct date fields:
| Date Field | Definition & How It Is Populated |
|---|---|
1. Observation period (observation_period) | The period the underlying statistic relates to (for example, September 2026 for monthly RBNZ lending, or Year ended 31 March 2026 for the FMA KiwiSaver Annual Report). |
2. Period end (period_end / as_of) | The final calendar date covered by the observation period (for example, 2026-09-30 or 2026-03-31). Used by HLF’s automated freshness gate to verify series currency. |
3. Source publication date (source_published) | When the original organisation released the statistic (for example, 2026-09-10 for the FMA’s 2026 KiwiSaver Annual Report, or the Published Date recorded inside RBNZ’s workbook metadata). HLF never copies period_end into source_published; where an agency page does not state an exact release date, the agency’s publication schedule is stated explicitly. |
4. Last checked (last_checked) | The date HLF’s automated pipeline last fetched and verified the official source. |
Data Quality & Limitations
- Official published sources: Pulse uses official published data from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), Stats NZ, Inland Revenue (IRD), the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), MBIE Tenancy Services, the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC), and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) wherever available.
- Unaltered official figures & source rounding: HLF does not alter or estimate official source figures. Where official tables publish rounded aggregates (such as RBNZ dollar series rounded to $1m or $0.1m), derived averages and implied counts reflect that source rounding and note it explicitly in the provenance layer.
- Provenance & derivation layer: To keep the primary editorial summaries natural and readable, exact formulas, series IDs, and derivation labels (Derived by HLF Pulse) are recorded in the expandable provenance layer, Data Dictionary tables,
pulse.json, andllms.txt. Long-term 5-year and 10-year series report both nominal growth and CPI inflation-adjusted (real) growth using Stats NZ’s Consumers Price Index. - Price indices vs. individual quotes: Stats NZ CPI insurance sub-indices measure percentage changes in standardised insurance price indices over time—they do not represent the dollar premium quote for an individual property or policyholder.
- Separate claim counts vs. individual proportions: In the ACC dataset, annual weekly compensation claims and total accepted injury claims (which are mostly minor treatment-only visits) are reported as two separate annual claim counts rather than a proportion of injured individuals.
- Commitments vs. settlements: RBNZ mortgage lending tables (C31, C32, C33, C40, C41) measure firm bank mortgage commitments/approvals rather than LINZ property title settlements.
- Automatic staleness exclusion: HLF automatically excludes any series where the underlying source is unavailable, stale past its freshness window, or cannot be verified.
- Market context vs. individual outcomes: Statistics describe aggregate historical market cohorts and do not predict an individual borrower’s, saver’s, or policyholder’s credit assessment, underwriting, or lending outcome.
Reuse Terms, Licensing & How to Cite (CC BY 4.0)
- Layer 1 — Official Crown & statutory statistics: Underlying official figures remain subject to the copyright and licensing terms of their respective publishers: Stats NZ, Inland Revenue, MBIE Tenancy Services, and the Financial Markets Authority (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0); the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ Terms of Use, permitting reproduction and derivative calculation with attribution to RBNZ); and statutory schedules under the Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023 and Accident Compensation Act 2001 (public-domain New Zealand legislation).
- Layer 2 — HLF-derived calculations, compilations & commentary: All HLF-derived percentages, averages, multi-year nominal/real growth rates, data dictionary definitions, and market interpretations are licensed by HLF (Home Loan Factory) under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Journalists, researchers, advisers, and AI systems may freely quote and reuse HLF-derived figures and commentary provided attribution is given to HLF Pulse, Home Loan Factory with a link to
https://pulse-data.homeloanfactory.co.nz/, the specific/{ticker}/record URL, or the HLF Pulse Media Kit & Citation Guide.