Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty Councils see surge in construction in 2019

Annie Hill from Priority One. Photo / File

Both Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council have set new records for the value of building consents issued, with a surge of construction activity in 2019.

Tauranga City, Western Bay district and the combined Western Bay sub-region value of consents are sitting 11 per cent higher compared to the same period last year.

According to Priority One, Tauranga had a strong January, a quiet February, followed by a record-breaking March, however, the Western Bay's consents formed the opposite pattern with a record-setting February and then a slowdown in March.

In the first four months of 2019, the combined Western Bay sub-region value of consents was sitting at $424.63 million.

During April, Tauranga issued a total of $80.5 million in consents. The value of residential consents issued was slightly down and commercial consents settled down after an all-time high was issued last month.

Western Bay district had a considerable slow-down during April, issuing the lowest value of building consents over the past two years at $12.5 million and the lowest value of residential new builds over the same time period.

In April 2019, 186 building consents were issued under the Tauranga City Council and 69 were issued under the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.