Residential property market refuses to lie down

The residential construction industry continues to defy predictions of economic slowdown, with the value of residential building consents a record for July, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The value of residential consents in July was $612 million compared with $495m last year and $567m in July 2004.

Overall, the value of all building consents in July was the second-highest for any July month since the series began in 1990.

The value of consents issued for non-residential was $283m, $19m higher than for the same month last year.

Offices and administration buildings (up $49m) showed the largest increase, while education buildings (down $19m) showed the largest decrease.

Consents for 2145 new dwelling units, including apartments, were issued in July 2006, compared with 1883 in June and 2005 the previous July.

New dwellings, excluding apartments, contributed 1888 units to the total number of new dwelling units in July 2006, compared with 1636 in July 2005.

The South Island (up 147 units) was the main contributor to the increase in the number of new dwelling units. Canterbury (up 78 units) and Otago (up 52 units) recorded the largest increases.

There were 257 apartment units authorised in July 2006, compared with 81 in June and 217 in May.

Apartment units accounted for 12 per cent of all new dwelling units authorised in July 2006, compared with a monthly average of 13 per cent for the year prior to July 2006.

- NZPA