NZ residential building consents fall 4.9% in September

NZ residential building consents fall 4.9% in September as Canterbury focus shifts to non-residential work

By Paul McBeth

Sept. 30 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand residential building consents fell 4.9 percent in August as the Canterbury rebuild shifts its focus toward commercial work.

Seasonally adjusted consents declined to 2,397 last month from 2,520 in July, when they spiked 20 percent, according to Statistics New Zealand. Of that, permits to build new houses fell 2.7 percent to 1,661.

On an unadjusted basis, residential consents rose 11 percent to 2,291 from the same month a year earlier, led by a 36 percent gain in retirement village units. Housing consents rose 9 percent to 1,617, while apartment permits dropped 39 percent to 65. Dwelling consents were up 8 percent on an annual basis to 25,928.

"The decline in the number of residential consents in August was not as pronounced as expected, meaning the trend upward is stronger than originally thought," Westpac Banking Corp economist David Norman said in a note. "Given the shift to multi-unit buildings in Auckland, we can expect to see more of these monthly fluctuations, as large new developments are consented or not."

Construction intentions were strong in non-residential work, with a 52 percent increase in the value of permits to $671 million, of which almost two-thirds was in Canterbury, driven by a number of high-value consents including the $137 million Regional Science and Innovation Centre at the University of Canterbury.

"Christchurch really stands out this month, because we’ve got these non-residential consents accounting for a big chunk of the national total," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement. "What we’re seeing in Christchurch is a few big consents for offices, hospitals, and the university."

New Zealand has a strong construction pipeline over the next six years, due largely to an under-supply of housing in Auckland, the country's biggest city.

Auckland residential consents rose 6.9 percent to 741 in August from the same month a year earlier, amounting to almost a third of permits across the country.

The value of all construction consents rose 31 percent to $1.61 billion in August from a year earlier, and were up 12 percent on an annual basis to $15.95 billion.

(BusinessDesk)

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