New dwelling consents ahead of 2015

The value of planned building work (excluding housing) is up $1bn to the 12 months ending July

New dwelling consents are tracking 13% ahead of last year, with 29,084 new dwellings consented in the 12 months to July. The annual total consisted of:

• 20,790 houses (+15%).
• 3,774 townhouses, flats and units (+6.9%).
• 2,242 apartments (–0.6%).
• 2,278 retirement village units (+28%).

In the month of July, a total of 2,811 new dwellings were consented (–0.5% on July 2015), comprising:

• 1,761 houses.
• 436 townhouses, flats and units.
• 425 apartments.
• 189 retirement units.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of new dwelling consents issued fell by 11% following a 22% spike in June. For houses only, the seasonally adjusted number fell 5.7% on the back of a 4.4% increase in June. The trend for both total dwelling consents issued and houses only is increasing.

In the regions

The number of new dwellings consented increased in nine out of the 16 regions in July compared to July 2015, led by Bay of Plenty (up 40 to 221; +40%), Wellington (up 20 to 126; +19%) and Otago (up 16 to 168; +11%). The other regions to record an increase were Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, Marlborough, Northland, Taranaki and Waikato.

Decreases were recorded in Canterbury (down 107 to 543; -16%), Auckland (down 29 to 1,087; -3%) and Southland (down 14 to 11; -56%). Gisborne, Nelson, Tasman and West Coast also consented less new dwellings in July when compared to July 2015.

The value of non-residential building consents in July was $614m – up $159m (+35%) from July 2015. The regions that contributed the most were Auckland ($2.1bn), Canterbury ($1.9bn) and Wellington ($543m).

In the 12 months to July, $6.3bn of non-residential building work was consented, compared with $5.3bn in the year to July 2015. The increase was driven by investment in schools, universities and hospitals. Combined, education and health buildings accounted for around three quarters of the increase.   

Consents total $1.6 billion in July

The total value of building work consented in July 2016 was $1.6bn.  This comprised $1.0bn residential work, and $614m non-residential work.

For the year ended July 2016, compared with the year ended July 2015, the value of buildings consented increased for:

• All buildings – up $2.9bn (19%) to $18bn.
• Residential buildings – up $1.9bn (19%) to $12bn.
• Non-residential buildings – up $1.0bn (19%) to $6.3bn.