New building consents lose steam

The steam appears to be going out of the residential building sector, with official figures out today showing a 2.5 per cent fall in new dwelling consents in September.

A seasonally-adjusted 2123 new dwellings were approved in the month, Statistics New Zealand said, compared with a revised 2178 approvals in August.

The number of new consents in September was 3 per cent lower than the same month a year earlier.

The largest contributors for the fall in approvals were hostels and boarding houses, while storage buildings recorded the biggest increase.

Consents hit a nine-month high in March as builders rushed in to beat law changes and higher fees, which came into effect on April 1.

Since then the trend for new dwellings has been relatively flat, the government agency said.

In the year ended September 30, there were 27,088 new dwelling unit consents issued, down 15 per cent on the previous September year.

The dwelling consents series is volatile because of fluctuations in the number issued for new apartments.

Excluding new apartment units, the number of seasonally adjusted new dwelling consents was up 3.5 per cent on the previous month, and 0.1 per cent higher than the same month a year ago.

The total value of all building consents in September was $978 million, 4.5 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.

The value of residential building consents rose 7.1 per cent to $611m, and non-residential building rose 0.3 per cent to $367m.

The annual value of consents for all buildings was $10.9 billion, up 5.4 per cent on a year earlier.

Eleven out of 16 regions authorised more new dwellings in September than the same month a year ago. Wellington recorded the largest increase at 103 units.

- NZPA