Confidence fuels house-build boom

NEW HOME: Mitchell Peard, 28, and Jess Rose, 26, found they were better off building their first home than buying.

The number of homes being built in Tauranga has reached a two-year high with 81 new residential projects approved last month.

Both the number and value of consents for new homes and apartments in May also hit a two-year high with 81 consents worth $26.9 million, well ahead of last May's 58 consents worth $17.5 million.

The number of building consents granted in Tauranga city last month was the highest it has been in more than four years with 212 projects worth $34.6 million given the go-ahead. While the total number of consents was up the value was down slightly on April's $34.8 million.

Priority One chief executive Andrew Coker put the difference between the number and value down to a greater number of small consents for the installation of heating systems.

The increase in residential consents was a healthy sign and driven partly by a strong drift of people moving down from Auckland, he said.

"We're really seeing that uplift in residential infrastructure. That's very encouraging as that's really important here," Mr Coker said.

Western Bay of Plenty Certified Builders president Mike Way said he and other builders had been flat out in recent months.

"We have seen people starting to struggle to get the right tradesmen at the right time. There's a lot more inquiries," Mr Way said. "It's a bit different to the last few years. Before we were managing if we were going to get work, now we're managing time frames and expectations."

The Lakes managing director Scott Adams said there had been up to 70 houses being built in the subdivision at any one time during the past six months.

"We're about to release approximately 100 more titles in July, which will then trigger the start of building over the next 12 months," he said. Mr Adams put the increased interest in building down to a combination of the recent LVR restrictions, which meant a 20 per cent deposit was required to buy an existing house but only 10 per cent was needed to build, and rising interest rates.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett said he was not surprised the number of new residential consents was high.

"It goes hand-in-hand with what's happening on the commercial side with businesses relocating here," he said. "People moving into the area need to live somewhere.

"Builders are getting hard to get. People are moving in from Auckland. That's helping drive that demand for housing and particularly new housing."

Mr Burnett said there seemed to be much more confidence among the people in the Bay of Plenty than in the past few years.