Standalone homes on the increase

After two years of increases, the trend for new housing consents is now where it was five years ago. In May 2013, there were 1,971 new homes consented. This included 1,752 non-apartment dwellings, the highest number of non-apartment consents since November 2007. The balance was 219 apartments, of which 118 were retirement village units.

Auckland and Canterbury regions led consents with a combined 1,122 new dwellings, 57% of the national total. In Auckland, 628 new dwellings were consented, including 154 apartments. In Christchurch, 494 new dwellings were consented, including 23 apartments. Waikato had the next largest number of consents with 240 new dwellings, including 12 apartments. Southland, Nelson and Gisborne all issued fewer new building consents compared with the same month last year.

The trend for the seasonally adjusted number of new homes, including apartments, continues to move upwards. Seasonally adjusted figures were up 1.3% in May, following a 21% increase in April.

“New housing numbers kept on rising this month; the trend is now 73% higher than the historic point in March 2011,” said industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno.

Below all-time peak

While the trend for housing consents continues to grow, it is still 37% lower than its peak in January 2004.

The seasonally adjusted number of non-apartment dwellings fell 0.3% in May 2013, following an 8.2% increase in April. The trend has increased by 63% since the March 2011 low and is now 30% lower than its peak in September 2003.

The national value of building consents for all new work and alterations in May 2013 was $1,160 million. This is the highest monthly value since August 2007. Residential consents were valued at $726 million.

The national value of non-residential consents grew in May, valued at $434 million. Major contributors included offices and admin buildings ($122 million – making up 28% of all non-residential builds); shops, restaurants and taverns ($59 million); storage buildings ($25 million) and factories and industrial builds ($48 million).

Canterbury consents

Canterbury quake-related consents for May 2013 were valued at $56 million (including 64 new homes) – $32 million residential, $23 million non-residential and $0.1 million non-building construction.

Building activity increased 23% in the March 2013 quarter compared with 5.1% for the rest of New Zealand. Quake-related consents for 33 months from September 2010 hit a total value of over $1 billion in May 2013 made up of $401 million residential, $617 million non-residential, $30 million non-building construction.

For the year ending May 2013, compared with the previous year, the value of all building consents was up $1.77 billion (19%) to $10.89 billion. Residential building was up 26% to $6.85 billion and non-residential was up by 9.2% to $4.04 billion.