The number of new dwelling consents being issued has recovered strongly post-lockdown but commercial building consents remain low, according to the latest Statistics NZ figures.
These show 3554 new dwelling consents were issued in May, up from 2168 in April and the highest number of consents issued in any month since May last year when 3724 were issued, which means May's consents were down just 4.6% compared with May last year.
The total value of new dwelling consents issued throughout the country was the second highest for any month ever in May at $1.316 billion, beaten only by May last year at $1.339 billion.
But the total value of new dwelling consents issued in the 12 months to may remains an all time annual high at $13.596 billion.
In the 12 months to the end of May, 37,010 new dwelling consents were issued, up 6.6% compared to the previous 12 months.
There were 1926 stand alone houses consented in May, down 4.4% compared to May last year, 493 apartments (-6.8%) and 176 retirement village units (-32.0%) (see the interactive chart below for the trends in consents by dwelling type).
The highest number of new consents was in Auckland where 1367 new dwellings were consented in May which was the highest number since August last year but still down 17.5% compared to May last year.
The increase in new consents was particularly strong in Canterbury where 667 consents were issued in May which was up 50.2% on May last year (the interactive chart below shows the trend for new dwelling consents in all regions).
However, consents for commercial building have not bounced back as strongly as residential consents, with consents for hotels, factories and offices remaining at particularly low levels.
Consents were issued for just $11 million of hotel construction in may which was down 76.5% compared to May last year, $44 million of factory building work, down 45.9% on May last year, $73 million of office buildings, down 32.7% on May last year and $92 million of retail premises, down 11.1% on May last year.
Going against the trend, $133 million of consents for storage buildings such as warehouses were issued, up 27.9% on May last year.
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