Residential construction continues to cool

The residential building sector continued to come off the boil in October, with over 25 per cent fewer building consents issued than at the same time last year

Statistics New Zealand said a seasonally adjusted 1963 building consents for new dwellings were issued in October, compared to the revised 2104 consents issued in September, and 2660 in October last year.

Excluding apartments, 1785 new dwelling consents were issued in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, down 5.3 per cent compared to September when 1884 consents for apartments were issued.

There was a marked drop in the number of consents issued for apartments, with just 168 dwelling consents issued for apartments in October this year, compared with 708 the previous October.

The value of consents issued for residential buildings in October was $557 million, down $53 million on October last year.

For non-residential buildings the value of consents fell $39 million on the year-earlier to $309 million.

For the year-ended October, the value of consents for all buildings totalled $10.8 billion, up $328 million from the previous October year. Residential buildings made up 63 per cent of all building consent values, compared with 67 per cent the previous year.

Eleven out of the 16 regions showed a decrease in consents issued, with Auckland leading the way with 551 fewer at 459; followed by Canterbury down 73 units at 321.

- NZPA