The number of consents for new houses and apartments has remained flat.
Official figures show that the seasonally adjusted number of dwelling consents in August was unchanged from July.
Excluding apartment numbers, which are volatile, consents fell 1.6 percent.
Regions that issued the most consents for new dwellings were Auckland and Christchurch, accounting for 59 per cent of the national total.
ANZ economist Mark Smith said there has been a lull in activity, but expects it will pick up.
The Property Council says it wants reforms to the Resource Management Act [RMA] to be taken off the backburner and made a priority.
Another 17 Special Housing Areas have been revealed in Auckland, under the plan to accelerate new home building - only two of them outside the suburbs.
The trend in building consents is continuing to pick up driven by earthquake-damaged Christchurch and strong population growth in Auckland.
A new report by an economic think tank says that at current construction rates, New Zealand will have a shortage of more than 100,000 houses by 2031.
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