WELLINGTON, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of new homes consented in New Zealand fell 9.6 percent in December 2017, reversing a 9.6-percent rise in November, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.

In actual terms, the total number of new homes consented was 2,169 in December 2017, down 1.6 percent from the same month in 2016. This was driven by a fall in new stand-alone houses consented, Stats NZ said.

"While stand-alone house consents fell in 2017, they still account for the lion's share of all new homes consented," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said in a statement.

"The fall in stand-alone houses consented was more than offset by a large rise in new apartment units consented during the year," McKenzie said, adding the total number of new homes consented in the year ended December 2017 was 31,087, up 3.4 percent from 2016.

Building consents for all non-residential buildings including offices, education buildings, storage, and cultural buildings in 2017 were up 8 percent from the December 2016 year, Stats NZ said, adding that social and cultural buildings and hotels were the main contributors to the increase in the value of all non-residential building consents.

"The increase in hotels, motels, and other short-term accommodation consented coincides with a rise in international visitors," McKenzie said, adding that hotels in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and the Queenstown-Lakes district have contributed to this increase.

In Auckland, 10,867 new homes were consented in 2017, the highest level since 2004 and up 8.4 percent from 2016, averaging more than 900 new homes a month, statistics show.

"Over a third of all new homes in New Zealand were consented in the Auckland region last year, which is in line with Auckland's share of the New Zealand population," McKenzie said, adding this is the first time since 2004 that the proportion of new homes consented in Auckland exceeded their share of the population.