New dwelling consents fell 11 per cent in January

Building and construction activity seems to be slowing down.

The number of new dwelling consents issued in January fell 10.8 per cent to 2161 on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Unadjusted, the number of consents issued in January was 1900, two more than in January 2005, and against 2445 in December.

The seasonally adjusted series showed the number of dwelling consents fell 6.7 per cent on January 2005.

Consents hit a record high in March at 2005 but since then have remained around 2000 except in December.

Excluding new apartment units, the number of seasonally adjusted new dwelling consents fell 8 per cent on the previous month and 7 per cent on January 2005.

In the year to January 31, there were 26,025 dwelling unit consents issued, down 15 per cent on the January 2005 year.

The value of all consents in January, including alterations and additions, was $502 million, down 6.7 per cent on January 2005.

The value of non-residential consents was $239m, down 2 per cent on January 2005.

There was a rise in educational building consents but office and administration building consents fell.

The total value of all consents in the year to January was $10.9 billion, up 1.5 per cent on a year earlier.

- NZPA