New dwelling trend still on the up

Consent volumes and values for new homes continue to trend upward. The monthly trend for all new home consents has been increasing and is now 73% higher than the low in March 2011.  Excluding apartments, the trend is levelling off.

In June, 1,487 consents were issued for new dwellings, including 160 apartments, 39 of which were retirement village units. June presented a minor drop of 4% in the seasonally adjusted number of consents issued for all residential work. The seasonally adjusted number of new homes, excluding apartments, fell 4.5% from May.

There were 5,213 new homes, including apartments, consented in the June quarter, which is the highest number since the June 2008 quarter. The seasonally adjusted number of new dwelling consents, including apartments, rose 16% in the June quarter compared with the March quarter.

Auckland and Canterbury made up 55% of the national total of all new dwelling consents in June 2013. Auckland issued 453, including 121 for apartments, and Canterbury issued 369. Waikato and Bay of Plenty also saw jumps compared to June 2012.

Non-residential consent values

Non-residential consent values in June were up $14 million on June 2012 to $269 million.  The total value of non-residential consents in the June quarter was $1,012 million. The seasonally adjusted non-residential value was up by 15% from the previous quarter. The quarterly value trend for non-residential has been rising for the past year and is now at its highest since the September 2009 quarter.

Quake-related consents

In June, Canterbury earthquake-related consents were worth $47 million ($29 million residential, $18 million non-residential). Quake-related consents in the June quarter were valued at $155 million. Almost $1.1 billion worth of quake-related consents have been processed since 4 September 2010.

The quarterly value trend for all consented work is now at its highest since the June 2007 quarter.  The value of all consented work for June 2013 is $2,914 million. The seasonally adjusted value of all building work in the June 2013 quarter is up 13% on the previous quarter. The value of all building consents issued year end June 2013 compared with June 2012 is up 19% to $10,982 million.  Residential was up 25% and non-residential was up 9.1%. The total value of consents for all buildings in June 2013 was $800 million.