Consents for apartments rise in January

The unadjusted number of new housing approvals rose in January 2012, compared with January 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. Apartments accounted for almost half of this increase.

"There was a large increase in approvals for apartments in January 2012," business statistics manager Blair Cardno said. "In fact, it was the highest monthly number of apartment units consented in just over a year. Most were for retirement units in Canterbury, some of which had been delayed because of earthquakes."

Housing approval numbers for January 2012, compared with January 2011, were:

• 1,098 new houses, including apartments, up 27 percent
• 900 new houses, excluding apartments, up 16 percent
• 198 new apartments (including 174 retirement units), up from 90.

After removing seasonal fluctuations, new housing approval numbers rose 8.3 percent in January 2012, compared with December 2011. Excluding apartments, there was a smaller increase of 3.7 percent. These movements follow several months of volatility.

Trend numbers for new housing approvals have been increasing since March 2011, but the rate of increase has eased in recent months. Trend series are subject to revision each month when new data is added.

In Canterbury, earthquake-related building consents totalled $25 million in January 2012. This included $18 million for non-residential work, and $7 million for residential work, including 17 new houses.

Data for building consents is obtained from all territorial authorities.

See also:
Building Consents Issued: January 2012 – Information release