New dwelling trend continues to rise

The trend for the number of new dwellings consented continues to rise and is at its highest level since 2007, according to Statistics New Zealand’s latest figures. Excluding apartments, the trend is at its highest since January 2008, and is 79% higher than the most recent low point in March 2011. However, it is still 24% below the record high in September 2003.

APARTMENT NUMBERS RETURN TO LOWER LEVEL

In January 2014, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented, including apartments, fell 8.3%, although this wasn’t enough to reverse the overall trend backed by the rises late last year.

This was largely due to apartment consents, which recorded unusually high numbers in November (492, including 61 retirement village units) and December (473, including 122 retirement village units), returning to a lower level in January (154, including 88 retirement village units).

Non-apartments dwellings also decreased by 1.3% (from 1,562 to 1,486) in January, following a rise of 11% in December.

AUCKLAND AND CHRISTCHURCH CONTINUE TO DRIVE CONSENTS

Together, Auckland and Canterbury accounted for 58% of the new dwellings, including apartments, consented in January.

Thirteen of the 16 regions consented more new dwellings in January 2014 than in January 2013, led by Canterbury (up 142 to 520), Auckland (up 61 to 433), Wellington (up 33 to 127) and Waikato (up 33 to 137). Other regions that consented more dwellings included Northland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, Otago and Southland. Those that didn’t were Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui and Tasman.

VALUE OF BUILDING WORK SLIGHTLY DOWN

In January 2014, the unadjusted value of building work was $930m. This consisted of $642m of residential work (down from $687m) and $289m of non-residential work (down from $379).

The largest contributors to non-residential work, by value and including alterations and additions, were offices and administration buildings (accounting for 28% of all non-residential buildings), education buildings (18%) and factories and industrial buildings (15%).

EARTHQUAKE RELATED CONSENTS TOTAL ALMOST $1.5 BILLION

Since 4 September 2010, $1,497 million of building consents have been identified as earthquake-related. This includes consents for 1,425 new dwellings.