The residential building boom shows no sign of abating with the number of new dwelling consents issued throughout the country up 24.3% in July compared to July last year, according to Statistics NZ.
The increase was across all dwellings types led by apartments which were up 47.8% compared to July last year, followed by townhouses and home units +21.9%, standalone houses +21.4%, and retirement units +10.8% (see interactive chart below).
On an annual basis consents for 35,472 new dwellings were issued in the 12 months to the end of July, up 8% compared to the previous 12 months.
In Auckland, where strong, migration-driven population growth has put the greatest pressure on housing supply, 14,236 new homes were consented in the 12 months to July, up 10.8% compared to the previous 12 months.
That means the number of new homes being consented in Auckland has doubled over the last five years, with just 7166 homes consented in the 12 months to July 2014.
And the growth in Auckland consents is not slowing, with 1454 new homes consented in the month of July, up`16.3% compared to July last year.
Other regions to show healthy annual growth in the number of new dwellings consented in the 12 months to July compared to a year earlier were Waikato +19.5%, Hawke's Bay +5.5%, Taranaki +5.8%, Manawatu/Whanganui +5.7%, Nelson +58.2%, West Coast +8.8%, Canterbury +7.5% and Southland +13.5% (see interactive chart below).
However the number of consents declined over the same period in Northland -1.7%, Bay of Plenty -1.3%, Wellington -0.4%, Marlborough -21.1%, and was almost unchanged in Otago +0.2%.
The ongoing growth in the number of consents being issued highlights the importance of the construction sector to the economy, with the value of the new dwellings consented in July hitting $1.185 billion (excluding the cost of land) up 16.8% compared to July last year.
On top of that another $189 million of dwelling alteration work was consented in July, taking the total value of residential construction to $1.373 billion for the month, up 14.9% compared to a year ago.
In the 12 months to July, the total value of all residential building work consented was $15.195 billion, up 6.9% compared to the previous 12 months.
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