KEY POINTS:
Exceptionally strong new housing and apartment approval figures out yesterday surprised economists.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the latest housing data was almost hard to believe.
"We expected a degree of rebound in dwelling consents after recent weakness but certainly didn't bargain on the rebound being around 20 times our forecast," Tuffley said.
Statistics NZ said 771 new apartment units were authorised last month compared with just 204 in April last year.
This was the highest monthly total since March 2005 and included three apartment buildings with more than 150 units each.
Consents were granted for 1602 houses last month, excluding apartments. This was 24 more consents than in the same month last year.
Tuffley said the bubble was caused by an unusually large number of apartment blocks getting approval in Auckland and Wellington.
Just 50 apartments got consent in March so the 771 new units approved last month was unexpected, he said.
Robin Clements, senior economist at UBS New Zealand, said the seasonally adjusted number of authorised new dwelling units including apartments rose a strong 82.1 per cent between March and April, following a 14.5 per cent drop between February and March.
"Taken at face value the surge in dwelling consents suggests the trend decline has been overstated and in fact the trend for the total number of dwelling consents has been rising all this year. We don't believe this one bit!
"Sure, Easter has likely meant the trends have overstated the pace of decline but we still expect the true picture to be a declining trend."
