NZ residential building consents fall 7.6% in April due to Easter holiday

Tuesday 30th May 2017

New Zealand residential building consents dropped 7.6 percent in April, as the Easter holiday period reduced the number of days that councils processed applications.

Seasonally adjusted dwelling consents fell to 2,106 in April from 2,361 in April last year, Statistics New Zealand said. The agency attributed the drop to the timing of Easter, which fell in April this year.

"Councils don’t usually issue building consents on public holidays, so the timing of Easter drove a fall in April’s building consents,” Stats NZ business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

New Zealand's housing market has been on a tear, with demand outstripping supply and pushing up values. The latest data shows that on an annual basis, home consents increased 8.3 percent to 30,371, the highest level for an April year since 2004.

In Auckland, the country's largest city, the lack of housing supply has been most acute as record migration drives demand. Today's figures show 10,226 homes were consented in the year through April, up 9.3 percent from the previous year and the most for an April year since 2005.

Including alterations, $1.3 billion of building work was consented in the month of April, Stats NZ said. That included $921 million worth of residential buildings and $411 million for non-residential buildings.

On an annual basis, the value of consents rose 12 percent to $19.1 billion. Residential consents increased 13 percent to $12.7 billion while non-residential consents advanced 9.7 percent to $6.4 billion.

(BusinessDesk)

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