Apartments lift building consents

The number of new housing consents rose in April 2012, compared with April 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. Apartments accounted for a third of the increase.

"There has been a big increase in the number of consents for apartments this April compared with the same month last year," industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.  "The trend for the number of new houses, including apartments, has been steadily rising over the last year."

After removing seasonal fluctuations, the number of new houses, both including and excluding apartments, fell in April 2012, compared with March 2012. These falls follow large rises in March and are consistent with the volatile nature of the series. The trends for the number of new houses, both including and excluding apartments, have both been rising over the last year.

Unadjusted housing consent numbers for April 2012, compared with April 2011, were:

• 1,230 new houses, including apartments, up 33 percent
• 1,092 new houses, excluding apartments, up 22 percent
• 138 new apartments (88 of which were retirement village units), up from 34 apartments.

Eleven of New Zealand's 16 regions had increases, with Auckland and Canterbury being the two leading contributors.

In Canterbury, earthquake-related building consents totalled $28 million in April 2012. Of this, $18 million was for non-residential buildings and $9 million was for residential buildings, including 17 new houses.

Data for building consents is obtained from all territorial authorities in New Zealand.

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