New dwelling consents reach five-year high

30 July 2013

Building consents issued for new houses hit a five-year high in the June 2013 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.

A total of 5,213 new houses, including apartments, were consented between April and June – the most since the June 2008 quarter.

“The seasonally adjusted number of new houses, including apartments, was up 16 percent in the June quarter. The trend for the number of new houses consented has been rising for the last two years and is now similar to the level five years ago,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

The total value of all building work consented in the June quarter was $2.9 billion. Residential building consents came to $1.9 billion, while planned non-residential work came to $1.0 billion.

The quarterly trend for the total value of building consents is at its second-highest ever level. The series peaked in the June 2007 quarter.

“The quarterly trend for the value of non-residential building work has been increasing for a year and is now at its highest level since September 2009,” Mr Cardno said.

“It’s important to bear in mind these trends don’t take inflation into account,” Mr Cardno said.

June 2013 month

Looking at the monthly data, 1,487 new houses, including apartments, were consented in June. Together, the Auckland and Canterbury regions consented 55 percent of the national total.

The seasonally adjusted number of new houses, including apartments, decreased 4.0 percent in the June month.

Canterbury earthquake-related building consents were valued at $47 million in June, and included 53 new houses (for the June quarter, consents totalled $155 million, including 166 new houses).

Data for building consents is obtained from all territorial authorities in New Zealand.

ENDS

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