Quality Statement
A dwelling is any building or structure – or its parts – that is used, or intended to be used, for human habitation. It can be of a permanent or temporary nature and include structures such as houses, motels, hotels, prisons, motor homes, huts, and tents. There can be more than one dwelling within a building. For example, each apartment in an apartment building is a dwelling.
‘Dwelling count’ refers to the overall count for dwellings and also to counts at different geographic levels.
High quality
Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating.
Priority level 1
A priority level is assigned to all census concepts: priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).
Dwelling count is a priority 1 concept. Priority 1 concepts are core census concepts that have the highest priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census.
The census priority level for dwelling count remains the same as 2018.
The 2023 Census: Final content report has more information on priority ratings for census concepts.
All dwellings
‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings that the count applies to.
Dwelling count is a count of dwellings in the census dwelling frame and has no classification.
The dwelling count is taken from the census dwelling frame.
Creating the census dwelling frame for the 2023 Census provides more information about the processes used to develop the dwelling frame.
Data-use outside Stats NZ:
- to monitor change in the number of dwellings both nationally and at lower geographical levels.
Data-use by Stats NZ:
- to estimate sub-national dwelling figures to plan for the upcoming census
- private dwelling counts are used as the starting point for national dwelling estimates (by tenure) published quarterly by Stats NZ.
Creating the census dwelling frame for the 2023 Census provides more information about the processes used to develop the dwelling frame.
Missing and residual responses represent data gaps where respondents either did not provide answers (missing responses) or provided answers that were not valid (residual responses) in the 2023 Census.
There is no non-response for dwelling count as the data comes from the census dwelling frame.
Overall quality rating: High quality
Data has been evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.
Only one quality metric contributed to the overall quality rating:
- consistency and coherence.
This rating is based on how the dwelling counts compare with the dwelling benchmarks and time series (consistency and coherence of the counts). This is supported by the quality assessment of the dwelling attributes (such as dwelling address, dwelling type, dwelling occupancy status) and quality of frame. Unlike attributes, dwelling counts do not have a calculated rating for ‘data sources and coverage’ and cannot be assessed for ‘respondent data accuracy’.
Dwelling counts data is consistent with expectations across nearly all consistency checks, with some minor variation from expectations or benchmarks that align with real-world change or a change in how the variable has been collected.
Dwelling counts rose between censuses, the increase, which was expected, was driven by a continuing strong construction sector. While consents were high and incorporated into benchmarks, the construction sector may have been impacted by issues such as COVID, availability of supplies, and increased cost of building supplies, labour and building costs in general, leading to delays in completing dwellings.
Experimental indicators show longer building timeframes has more information.
In general, timeseries counts at most low-level geographies increased as expected. Some areas at the statistical area 2 (SA2) level and lower showed a decrease in dwellings. This can be explained by dwellings that have changed in use and therefore reclassified, demolitions of dwellings, and in some areas where there were high counts of mobile dwellings in 2018 Census that were not captured in the 2023 Census.
Dwelling count data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2013 and 2018 Censuses. When using this data, users should be aware that:
- at lower levels of geography (SA2 and below), there are some areas with changes that are not consistent with time series or expectations
- some caution is advised when comparing dwelling counts over time with the addition of the new category, unoccupied non-private dwellings in the 2018 Census
- caution is advised when using 2018 data for Marlborough as there was an estimated undercount of approximately 800 dwellings. We recommend using Marlborough dwelling counts estimates found in the Correction to Marlborough Dwelling Count page, rather than the official 2018 Census counts.
To assess how this concept aligns with the variables from the previous census, please use the link below:
Contact our Information centre for further information about using this concept.
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