New Zealand residential building consents fell for a second month as more permits for new houses couldn't offset a dip in the more volatile intentions to construct apartments and retirement village units.
Seasonally adjusted dwelling consents fell 1 per cent to 2,636 in August, continuing from an 8.1 per cent drop a month earlier, Statistics New Zealand said. Permits for new houses rose 4.4 per cent to 1,872 in the month, turning around the 5.8 per cent fall a month earlier. On an annual basis, residential permits rose 14 per cent to 29,627, including a 16 per cent gain in new house consents to 21,188. The value of residential permits rose 24 per cent to an annual $10.26 billion.
"Consent values are the highest they've ever been," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said. "However, in terms of the numbers we're still not building quite as many homes as we did around 2004, and are still well short of the building boom in the mid-1970s."
Record net migration is putting pressure on the nation's housing market where a shortage of supply is pushing up prices in Auckland, the country's largest city, making accommodation unaffordable for many.
Today's figures show new permits in Auckland rose 970 in August from 741 in the same month a year earlier, for an annual total of 9,851, less than the 13,000 needed to keep up with an expanding population. Last month Auckland Council signed off on the unitary plan allowing for more than 400,000 new residential houses to be built over the next three decades, though appeals are expected to keep new building intentions muted until there's more clarity for developers.
