Housing consents edge up in June

Photo / Paul Estcourt

The number of consents issued for new homes rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 per cent in June, with apartment numbers, which tend to be volatile, excluded.

In May there was a 10 per cent fall.

Including apartments, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings authorised last month was up 3.5 per cent, following a 9.5 per cent fall in May, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.

The 1316 residential consents, excluding apartments, was up from 967 in June last year, while the 1373 consents with apartments included was up from 1100 a year earlier.

For the year to June the number of new dwellings authorised, including apartments, rose 14 per cent from a year earlier to 16,167 units.

The apartments excluded number was up 25 per cent to 15,384 units, which was still the second lowest annual total for a June year since the series started in 1991, SNZ said.

The value of non-residential building consents fell 26 per cent last month from a year earlier to $228m, with education buildings down $39m and storage buildings down $32m.

For the year the value of residential building consents rose $625m or 12 per cent to $5.7 billion, while the value of non-residential building consents fell $857m or 18 per cent to $3.9b.

The largest non-residential category fall for the year was in offices and administration buildings, which fell $521m, while factories and industrial buildings were down $155m. Hospital and nursing home consents rose $174m in the year to June from a year earlier.

All building work authorised last month was valued at $736m, up 6.4 per cent from June 2009.

For the June quarter, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings authorised, excluding apartments, was up 0.7 per cent, following a rise of 3.4 per cent in the March quarter.

Including apartments, the seasonally adjusted number of dwelling consents was down 6.6 per cent in the June quarter.

- NZPA