Housing consent numbers continue to fall

Building consent statistics show the number of new housing units authorised continues to fall, with 1,127 units authorised in December 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the lowest monthly total since January 1987.

The trend for the number of authorised new housing units, including apartments, has fallen 49 percent since the recent June 2007 peak.

In December 2008, the seasonally adjusted number of authorised new housing units, excluding apartments, fell 0.7 percent compared with November 2008.

For the year ended December 2008, there were 18,456 new housing units authorised, down 7,134 from the previous year. The value of these consents fell from $6.4 billion to $4.9 billion over this time.

For the year ended December 2008, the value of consents issued for residential buildings fell $1.5 billion (20 percent), while the value for non-residential buildings rose $322 million (7.7 percent), compared with the year ended December 2007.