WELLINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Almost 33,000 new homes were consented in the year ended November 2018, up 5.3 percent from the November 2017 year, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.
The country's largest city Auckland drove the increase in new homes consented, followed by Wellington. A total of 32,783 new homes were consented in the year ending November 2018, Stats NZ said.
"Stand-alone houses accounted for nearly two-thirds of new homes consented in the year ended November," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said in a statement.
"We saw a sustained increase in apartments, as well as townhouses, flats, and units, particularly in Auckland," McKenzie said.
In the Auckland region, 12,800 new homes were consented in the year ending November 2018, down slightly from 13,078 in the year ending October 2018, she said.
The number of new homes consented fell a seasonally adjusted 2 percent in the November month, following a 1.4-percent increase in October, statistics showed.
