Building consents rise strongly in main centres

Housing approvals rose in July, after adjusting for seasonal effects, Statistics New Zealand says.

Main centre approvals were much stronger than in the regions - fully two thirds of the rise from June were for approvals in Auckland and Wellington.

Excluding apartment numbers, which tend to vary a lot each month, the number of new homes given building consents rose more than 6% from June. Including apartments gives a rise of 13%.

"The latest increase, excluding apartments, is enough to confirm a positive swing in the longer-term trend," industry and labour statistics manager Kathy Connolly said. "This now indicates that February was the low point in the number of homes being approved."

"The picture is similar when apartments are included, but one more month of strong data will be required to confirm that these numbers have also turned," added Ms Connolly.

In July approvals for apartments were comparatively high. Of the 168 approved, 111 were assisted-living apartments.

In Canterbury, earthquake-related building consents totalled NZ$32 million in July 2011, compared with NZ$14 million in June and NZ$28 million in May. The July consents comprise NZ$26 million for non-residential work and NZ$6 million for residential work, including 36 new homes, of which 28 are relocatable units intended to house displaced residents.

Comparing July 2011 with the same month a year earlier, residential consent values fell 14% to NZ$420 million, non-residential consent values rose 17% to NZ$343 million (led by a NZ$105 million consent for work on Middlemore Hospital in Auckland), and all building consent values fell 2.6% to NZ$763 million.