Auckland leads way in building consents
Permits for all dwellings gain 12%.
New Zealand residential building consents climbed 11% last month, led by Auckland’s increasing construction boom as the city tries to house a swelling population.
Seasonally adjusted consents across all dwellings rose to 2509 in February from 2264 a month earlier, while permits for new houses rose 4.1% to 1720, according to Statistics New Zealand.
On an unadjusted basis, new housing consents were up 27% to 1712 in February from the same month a year earlier, while apartment consents advanced 45% to 204, retirement village units more than doubled to 122 and townhouses, flats and units jumped 61% to 341.
On an annual basis, new housing consents were up 8.6% to 19,546, with all dwellings gaining 12% to 27,745.
Auckland led the increase in housing permits, rising 49% to 787 in February from a year earlier. That took the annual number of new consents to 9534, accelerating from the 9275 reported in the year to January though still below the 13,000 the city is estimated to need to match population growth.
The city's house price inflation has been cooling in recent months, reflecting restrictions on lending to property investors and government efforts to free up land supply.
Today's data showed a drop in commercial building consents, with the value down 21% to $372 million in February from a year earlier.
On an annual basis, commercial building permits increased 9.8% to $5.78 billion, led by a 60% increase in education buildings to $1.14 billion.
Offices, administration and public transport accounted for the biggest annual value of new permits at $1.16 billion, down 10% from a year earlier.
The value of all buildings increased 17% to $1.45 billion in the month from February 2015, for an annual gain of 13% to $16.72 billion.
(BusinessDesk)
Paul McBeth
Wed, 30 Mar 2016
Wed, 30 Mar 2016
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Auckland leads way in building consents
56845