Housing consents up and down

There were 1,864 new dwelling units valued at $316 million approved in June.

While that was well down on the actual 2,282 consents worth a record $387.4 million in May, in seasonally adjusted terms the June figures were up 6.2% from May and up 13.6% on June last year.

Statistics New Zealand says the trend in consents has been increasing since November 2000 at an average rate of 1.8% a month.

It notes that the Auckland region continues to be the main contributor to the recent increases in consents.

"For the quarter ended June 2002, the number of new dwelling units for the Auckland region was 786 higher than for the quarter ended June 2001," the government statistician says.

Of the total consents in June, 183 worth $16.5 million were for apartments. That's well down from the 267 worth $32.2 million apartments approved in May and the 439 worth $30.5 million approved in April.

Deutsche Bank notes that while the year-on-year growth rate in consents has been moderating, the average value has continued to rise at about 13% annually.

That's mainly due to larger homes being built rather than construction cost inflation, it says. "This factor has to be taken into account when assessing the contribution of the building sector to GDP growth," it says.

For the year ended June, consents rose from 3,389 worth $2.84 billion last year to 4,169 worth $3.66 billion.

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