New building consents fall in August but remain at high level

By NZPA

Wednesday 25th September 2002

The number of consents issued for new dwellings fell 23 percent to 2105 in August from 2738 in July, Statistics New Zealand said today.

New consents issued in July were up a massive 47 percent on June.

The August figure was up 4.2 percent on August 2001.

For the 12 months ended August, the number of new dwelling units has averaged about 2000 per month compared with an average of about 1600 new dwelling units per month for the year ended August 2001.

The average monthly level in 2002 is similar to 1999.

Since November 2000, the department's trend series for the number of new dwellings has been increasing at an average rate of 1.4 percent per month. After increasing steadily for the last 20 months, the trend appears to be levelling off at about 2000 dwelling units per month.

The volatility in the number of new dwellings was due to some extent to fluctuations in the number of new apartments, the department said.

In August 2002, consents for 232 new apartment units were issued compared with 686 in July, and 183 in June 2002.

The total value of non-residential building consents issued in August was $218 million against $285.7 million in July and $209.5 million in August 2001.

Consents issued for shops, restaurants and taverns were worth $42 million, 19 percent of the non-residential buildings total. Consents for factories and industrial buildings contributed $38 million or 18 percent.

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