by Jenny Ruth
Housing consents rebounded a seasonally adjusted 21.6% in December from November, but again the volatility was due to new apartment consents.
Statistics New Zealand figures show there were 2,532 homes worth $381.5 million approved in December up from the 2,432 worth $394.3 million in November.
December apartment approvals jumped from 572 in the previous month to 642, but were down on the massive 1,526 approved in October.
Deutsche Bank chief economist Ulf Schoefisch notes that by excluding apartments, the number of consents in December was unchanged from November and is sitting about 7.5% below its July peak.
Statistics New Zealand says the mean number of monthly consents during the last four months of 2002 was 2,700, up from about 2,250 a month in the previous four months and 1,850 in the first four months of 2002.
It also says the 27,208 consents worth $4.31 billion issued for the whole of 2002 was the largest number since 1976. In 2001, there were 20,539 consents worth $3.15 billion issued.
The number of apartments approved in 2002 totalled 5,610, almost double the 2,813 approved in 2001.
Auckland continues to be the main contributor to the increased activity, accounting for 61% of the 2002 consents.
Nevertheless, Schoefisch says the implied volume of construction activity has risen much more slowly than the number of consents because so many are apartments. He also notes that consents outside of Auckland actually fell in December.
"That reflects the fact that most of the strong net inflow of migrants which is driving the overall level of activity impacts the Auckland region," he says. With migration having plateaued, building activity seems to have reached a plateau too.
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