New home trend flattening

After two years of growth, the trend for new home consents is levelling.

In August 2013, there were 1,760 new residential consents issued, including 127 apartments. The seasonally adjusted number of new homes, including apartments, increased 1.4%; excluding apartments, it increased 0.8%.

The number of new homes consented, including apartments, is up in nine regions compared with August 2012. The greatest changes were seen in Auckland (up 125 to 503); Canterbury (up 75 to 469); Waikato (up 53 to 204); and Southland, (up 54 to 12).

Consented non-residential building work in August 2013 was valued at $338m. The key contributors, by value, were shops, restaurants and taverns at $70m (21% of all non-residential buildings); offices and administration buildings at $67m (20%); social, cultural and religious buildings at $57m (17%); factories and industrial buildings at $42m (13%); and education buildings at $39m (12%).

The $1.2bn worth of quake-related building consents issued since September 2010 included 1,059 new homes, including apartments. The value of quake-related building consents in August 2013 stood at $59m, including 58 new homes with a value of $38m and non-residential builds valued at $21m.

In August 2013, the value of all building consents was $1bn. The year to August 2013 saw the value of all building consents increased by 21% over the previous year, up $1.9bn to $11.4bn. Residential building value rose $1.6bn (27%) to $7.3bn and non-residential buildings increased $407m (11%) to $4.2bn.