KEY POINTS:
The building industry seems to be grinding to a halt.
The 1362 new dwellings, including apartments, authorised in June was the lowest monthly number since January 2001, Statistics New Zealand says.
The figures released today show the construction industry taking a big hit from the country's slowing economy. Trends for new dwelling numbers, both including and excluding apartments, have been declining for the past year.
The value of residential building consents in June was $445 million, down $236m, or 34 per cent, compared with June 2007. That monthly total was the lowest since April 2006, SNZ said.
The value of non-residential building consents was $313m last month, down $69m or 18 per cent from a year ago.
SNZ said the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings fell 20.1 per cent last month, following a 40.8 per cent drop in May, to its lowest reading since October 1986.
But the seasonally adjusted figures for dwelling numbers came with a note that they should be treated with caution, as the series was showing greater variability than usual.
The variability was due to the high number of dwellings, particularly apartments, authorised in April, and because of the impact of Easter being in March this year instead of April.
Regionally, fewer new dwellings were authorised in 15 out of 16 regions last month compared to a year earlier, while in Tasman the number was the same.
For the year to June 5752 new dwellings were authorised in Auckland, down 1029 from the year to June 2007. Canterbury had a drop of 649 to 3822, Waikato was down 765 to 3010, and Wellington was up 121 to 2153.
The value of consents for all buildings was $768m last month, down $305m or 28 per cent from June 2007.
For the year to June, the value of residential building consents declined 5.9 per cent from the June 2007 year to $7.28 billion.
Non-residential building consents issued were up 7.4 per cent for the year to $4.33b. For all buildings, the total value was down 1.4 per cent to $11.61b.
- NZPA
