Slump in home building consents in November

File photo

The value of non-residential building work reached an 18-month high during November, against a slump in activity across the residential sector.

Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show the value of consents issued for non-residential buildings was $479 million during November, up 23 per cent on the same period in 2009.

The main contributors were education buildings, factories and industrial buildings, SNZ said.

The value of residential buildings fell by 4.4 per cent to $514 million across the same period.

The seasonally adjusted number of new housing units authorised, excluding apartments, fell 2.6 per cent in November 2010, the fifth consecutive monthly fall.

When the volatile apartment category was included, the number of new housing units authorised rose 8.8 per cent, following a 1.8 per cent fall in October 2010.

Goldman Sachs economist Philip Borkin said the 'lumpy nature' of apartment and non-residential issuance meant it was difficult to know what the implications from today's numbers might be for monetary policy.

"We still believe it is too early to warrant a review of our expectations, but at this stage we see upside risk to our forecasts."

During November consents were issued for; 1470 new housing units (including apartments), 1244 new housing units, (excluding apartments), 226 new apartments (154 were assisted-living apartments associated with retirement villages).

Meanwhile the total value of earthquake-related consents in Canterbury during November was $2.3 million.

Two of these were for new dwellings, Statistics New Zealand said.

Building consent values include goods and services tax (GST), which increased from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent from 1 October 2010.

It was not possible to separate the impact of this change on consents, SNZ said.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE