New Zealand's residential building consents took a tumble in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, largely due to earthquake disruption in the capital city of Wellington.
Seasonally adjusted dwelling consents fell 9.2 per cent to 2,406 in November, after rising 2 per cent in October, Statistics New Zealand said. Permits for new houses fell 7.7 per cent to 1,634 following a 1.4 per cent slide in October. The monthly figures were helped by a jump in Auckland permits, which rose 46 per cent to 1,156. Consents in Wellington, however, dropped 57 per cent to 132.
"Once processing capacity and application demand have returned to normal, we expect Wellington's strong upward trend to continue," said ASB Bank senior economist Jane Turner.
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. New Zealand's central bank has long signalled that an overheated housing market is a key risk to financial stability and that much of the solution lies in supply.
"Strong population growth over the past few years has lifted housing demand right across the country, and we expected momentum to continue at least for another year," ASB's Turner said.
