Building consents approved in Canterbury in the first half of 2012 valued almost the same as all consents issued last year, latest data shows.
A Statistics New Zealand report out today showed almost $1 billion of residential and non-residential building consents had been granted in the first six months of 2012.
That compared with about $1.2 billion in all of 2011.
Overall building activity was still below pre-quakes levels, but non-residential building activity was really starting to grow, said Statistics NZ project manager Clara Eatherley.
"We are seeing more consents coming through but we're also seeing slightly larger valued consents. These are primarily non-residential consents."