NZ home building consents rise 1.4 percent in September, led by Canterbury earthquake rebuild

Thursday 31st October 2013

New Zealand home building consents rose in September, driven by rebuilding in earthquake damaged Christchurch.

New dwelling consents, including apartments, rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent in September from August, and were up 22.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding apartments, which can cause volatility in the figures, September consents rose 2.6 percent from August.

In Canterbury a record 599 new dwellings, including 101 apartments, were consented in September. Some $60 million of earthquake-related consents were issued in Canterbury in September, taking the total since September 4, 2010, to $1.28 billion.

"Residential building consents rose slightly in September, in line with our forecast and maintaining their upward trend of the last couple of years," Westpac Banking Corp. senior economist Michael Gordon said in a note. "Consents surged in Canterbury, but were surprisingly weak in the under-supplied Auckland market."

While September consents in Canterbury were up 28 percent from August and ahead 51 percent from September last year, consents in Auckland slipped 2.8 percent from August and were up just 6.8 percent from the year earlier month, according to Statistics NZ.

Based on the statistician's trend series, consents excluding apartments nationwide are at their highest in more than five years, although the increase has been easing over the past few months, the agency said.

The value of non-residential building work consented in September rose 1.2 percent to $342 million in September from August.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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