Dwelling consents rose strongly in July, mainly driven by a jump in Auckland

Statistics NZ says 2,282 new dwelling consents were issued in July, the highest monthly number since 2008.

Of those, 373 were apartments, which included 219 retirement village units, and 1,909 were non-apartment dwellings.

Three hundred and twenty five of the apartment consents issued were in Auckland.

There were 849 consents issued in the Auckland region, followed by 609 in Canterbury, 211 in Waikato, 132 in Otago, 125 in Bay of Plenty and 119 in Wellington.

The number of consents issued in July was up 17% on the 1,950 consents issued in June, with most of the increase coming from Auckland, where consents  were up 53.5%  compared to June.

The total number of dwelling consents issued has been steadily rising for the last three years, with 23,649 consents issued in the year ended July, compared with the recent low point of 13,236 issued in the year to July 2011.

The figures highlight the critical role the construction sector continues to play in the economy, with the value of residential building work in July at $876 million, its highest level ever.

The value of non-residential building work consented in July was $512 million, its second highest level ever.

However most of that work was concentrated in the main centres, with 10 regions including Wellington recording decreases in dwelling consents issued in July compared with July last year.

The value of non-residential building work consented in July was highest in Canterbury at $154 million, followed by Auckland at $104 million and Wellington City at $32 million.

Compareed with June, the number of dwelling consents issued rose in July in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu/Wanganui, Tasman, Marlborough, West Coast, and Otago but decreased in Waikato, Gisborne, Nelson, Canterbury and Southland.

Refer to the charts below for full national and regional consent numbers.