Home-building consents soar to decade high in New Zealand

New Zealand's construction industry saw the highest number of new home consents in more than a decade last year as the country tackles a housing crisis.

More than 27,000 new dwellings were consented in 2015, up about 2,400 from 2014 following an average increase of 3,700 over of the three previous years, said the government's Statistics New Zealand agency on Friday.

"Last year was the ninth-highest year on record for dwelling consents, beaten only by the building booms in the 1970s and early 2000s," business indicators manager Clara Eatherley said in a statement.

Annual dwelling consents had increased by about 13,000 since the historic low in 2011.

The regions with the largest increases were Auckland - home to a third of the population and facing the most serious housing problems - followed by the upper North Island regions of Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

The largest decrease was in the earthquake-battered Canterbury region, which saw an all-time high in 2014.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said the doubling the annual rate of new home construction from 13,500 in 2012 to 27,000 in 2015 was unprecedented.

"This is the longest sustained growth in residential construction in New Zealand history and is now topping 1 billion NZ dollars (648.8 million U.S. dollars) per month," Smith said in a statement.

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

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has repeatedly warned that soaring house price inflation in Auckland is a risk to the country's financial stability. Endit