New Zealand residential building consents rose 1.8 per cent in November, with demand for retirement village units driving approvals in the month.

Seasonally adjusted consents rose for a second month to 2,377 in November from 2,363 in October, even as approvals for new houses fell 0.3 per cent to 1,652, according to Statistics New Zealand.

On an unadjusted basis, dwelling consents climbed 17 per cent to 2,831 from November a year earlier, led by retirement village units more than doubling to 321.

Residential building permits were 9.1 per cent ahead in the year ended November to 26,793.

New Zealand is in a construction boom where authorities are chasing pent up demand for new housing in Auckland, and as the Canterbury rebuild starts to come off its peak.

The lack of supply in the country’s two-biggest cities spurred rapid price gains, and while those have moderated in Christchurch, Auckland housing is still near record highs.

MOnday’s data show Auckland consents were almost unchanged at 966 in November from a year earlier, while Canterbury consents at 573 were down from 726 in the same month of 2014. Wellington permits more than tripled to 328 in November from a year earlier, while Waikato consents climbed to 284 from 181.

The value of non-residential building consents rose 25 per cent to $531 million in November from the same month a year earlier, for an annual increase of 15 per cent to $5.8 billion.

The value of all construction rose 22 per cent to $1.62 billion in November from a year earlier, and was up 12 per cent to $16.5 billion on an annual basis.