Building Consents Issued: August 2001

Number of New Dwelling Units Rises

Building consents for 2,020 new dwelling units, worth $301.4 million, were issued in August 2001, according to Statistics New Zealand. This is the first time since May 2000 that the number of new dwellings has been over 2,000 units.

The seasonally adjusted series for new dwelling units increased 14.2 per cent in August 2001 from July 2001, following a 10.4 per cent decrease in July 2001 from the previous month. This series often records large fluctuations from month to month, so care should be taken when using it to interpret the short-term change in the number of new dwelling units.

An increase in new dwelling units was recorded in 13 of the 16 regions for August 2001, when compared with August 2000.

Non-residential building consents issued in August 2001 were valued at $209.5 million. Consents issued for factories and industrial buildings comprised $36.1 million of the total. Offices and administration buildings contributed $32.7 million, followed by shops, restaurants and taverns with $28.4 million.

The trend for non-residential buildings has been increasing since March 1999. In the two years since August 1999, the trend series has increased 1 per cent on average per month.

The total value of all building consents issued in August 2001 was $583.3 million.

Brian Pink Government Statistician END

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

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