14 With plateauing population growth and building consents on the improve, it apperars the gap between the two has flattened off. The gap is calculated by assuming 80% of dwellings consented translate into an actual increase in the number of dwellings (which may be generous given our results of consent to stock change analysis), and that each of those dwellings will house the current average number of people (2.7 people per dwelling). For example, over the year to June 2017 there were 30,538 dwellings consented (able to house 65,962 people), and an increase in population of 100,500, leaving a difference of almost 35,000 too many people for dwellings. Population Growth Compared to Building Consents Quarterly Population Change and Building Consents Nationwide Source: Statistics New Zealand, MBIE