Building consent figures lift slightly
Building consent figures did not rebound as much in May as had been predicted.
Monday, June 30th 2014, 12:00AM
by The Landlord
Total consent fell 4.6% in May from the month before but that was largely due to a drop in the number of apartment unit consents. Excluding apartments, consents rose 4.6%.
There were 432 units consented for in April, and 195 in May.
The rebound in ex-apartment consents was led by Auckland, where they rose to their highest level since late 2006 in seasonally-adjusted terms.
But consents in Christchurch were flat. The 605 in May, including apartments, was only slightly up on the 554 in April – a month that included Easter, Anzac Day and school holidays.
Including apartments, Auckland’s consents fell from 697 in April to 611 in May.
Waikato was the third-busiest region for consents, with 192 in the month.
A total of $1.2 billion of work was consented in May nationwide. Of that, $842 million was residential.
Statistics NZ’s business indicators manager Neil Kelly said: “The trend for new dwellings has been increasing for three years but is still 28% below the series peak in 2004.”
Westpac economist Michael Gordon said he had expected some of the April weakness was due to timing of the Easter/Anzac Day holidays, and a rebound was expected in May. "That proved to be the case, althoguh the rebound wasn't quite as robust as we expected."
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