Housing consents hit two year low

Wednesday 30th March 2011

Building consent numbers for new dwellings reached the lowest seasonally adjusted number in around two years in February, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) figures show.

Last month 973 consents were issued for new dwelling units, down 29% from February 2010. When apartments were excluded the fall was even bigger - down 35% to 884 new units - as the number of apartments consented was 76 higher than a year before at 89.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of new dwellings authorised was down 7.8% from January when apartments were excluded, the lowest level since February 2009. Including apartments the fall was 9.7% to the lowest level since January 2009.

The value of residential building consents was 20% lower in February than a year earlier at $389 million, while the value of non-residential building consents fell 19% to $257 million. For all buildings the value was down 19% to $645 million.

In the year to February, the value of residential consents was up 2.1% to $5.41 billion, that of non-residential buildings fell 14% to $3.71 billion, while for all buildings the value was down 5.2% to $9.12 billion.

In Canterbury, hit by a devastating earthquake on February 22, dwelling consents were 101 units lower than a year earlier at 148, but SNZ said it was not possible to say how much of that fall was due to the earthquake.

Sixteen Canterbury consents worth $2.6 million were identified as related to previous earthquakes, including three new dwellings.

NZPA

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