Typical January for Residential Building Consents

28 February 2005

Building Consents Issued: January 2005 Embargoed until 10:45am — Typical January for Residential Building Consents

January 2005 was a typically low January for building consents, Statistics New Zealand said today. Consents for 1,793 new dwelling units were issued. This was the first time they have fallen below 2,000 since February 2003. The low consent numbers typically recorded in January months are most likely due to the summer holiday season. January 1974 and January 2004 are the only Januarys on record to register more than 2,000 new dwelling units.

Apartment units accounted for 13 percent of all new dwelling units in January 2005, compared with one-quarter of all new dwelling units in November and December 2004. Consents for 237 new apartment units were issued in January 2005. The total value of consents issued for non-residential buildings was $242 million in January 2005, up 11 percent on January 2004.

The largest contributor to this value was offices and administration buildings. The trend for the value of non-residential buildings has risen 28 percent since January 2004, following a period of relative flatness between January 1995 and December 2003. The Capital Goods Price Index for non-residential buildings was 10 percent higher in the December 2004 quarter compared with the December 2003 quarter.

The total value of consents issued for all buildings in January 2005 was $755 million, which was similar to the value for January 2004. Residential buildings contributed 68 percent to the total value of all buildings, compared with 71 percent in January 2004.

Ian Ewing

Acting Government Statistician

ENDS

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