For the first time in years, the monthly total of housing consents has fallen below the number granted in the same month a year earlier.
Monday, September 1st 2003, 4:12AM
by The Landlord
The July total was also down from June in seasonally adjusted terms.
But it would be a big mistake to take these as signs the housing market is weakening.
While the 2,621 consents in July worth $473.5 million were down from the 2,738 worth $417.3 million granted in July last year, they were well up on the 2,386 worth $414.1 million granted in June. In seasonally adjusted terms, July consents were down 9% from June.
The number of consents in July was also the third highest total of any month in the past two years.
