BUILDING CONSENTS - UPDATE JULY 2007

Residential buildings

In July 2007, building consents were issued for 2,160 new dwelling units (including apartments), 15 units more than in July 2006. The current month follows a June month total of 2,574 dwelling units, the highest monthly total since March 2005.

The high June 2007 month total included a large number of new apartment units, and coincided with some territorial authorities increasing their fees from 1 July 2007. The seasonally adjusted series for the number of new dwelling units decreased 16 percent in July 2007, reversing the increase of 14 percent in June 2007. Seasonality for this series is now relatively well identified, following several years of instability.

The trend for the number of new dwelling units authorised (including apartments) has been increasing since January 2007.

In July 2007, 185 new apartment units were authorised, compared with 561 in June 2007 and 257 in July 2006. Apartment units accounted for 9 percent of all new dwelling units authorised in July 2007, compared with a monthly average of 12 percent for the previous 12 months.

Excluding apartments, there were 1,975 new dwelling units authorised in July 2007, compared with 1,888 in July 2006. The seasonally adjusted series decreased by 1.4 percent in July 2007, following an increase of 0.3 percent in June 2007. The trend for the number of new dwelling units authorised (excluding apartments) has been increasing since January 2007, although at a slower rate than the trend for the series including apartments.

Consents were issued for 26,553 new dwelling units (including apartments) for the year ended July 2007, compared with 25,703 for the previous July year.

The value of consents issued for all residential buildings was $679 million in July 2007, 11 percent higher than in July 2006. The trend for the value of all residential buildings has been increasing since December 2006.

Regional residential results

Nine of the 16 regions authorised more new dwelling units in July 2007 than in July 2006. The largest increases were in Waikato (up 66 units), Wellington (up 53 units) and Nelson (up 36 units). The largest decreases were in Auckland (down 125 units) and Bay of Plenty (down 55 units).

In July 2007, the largest contribution to the total number of new dwelling units came from the Auckland region with 457 units (21 percent), followed by Canterbury with 390 units (18 percent), and Waikato with 325 units (15 percent). Over the last 12 months, the mean monthly contribution from Auckland was 26 percent, followed by 17 percent from Canterbury and 14 percent from Waikato.

In the North Island the number of new dwelling units authorised decreased by 74 units, while in the South Island the number increased by 91 units, compared with July 2006.

Non-residential buildings

The value of consents issued for non-residential buildings in July 2007 was $353 million compared with $283 million in July 2006, an increase of 25 percent.

The value of consents issued increased in eight of the 11 non-residential building categories in July 2007, compared with July 2006. The largest increases were recorded in the social, cultural and religious buildings category (up $32 million), followed by shops, restaurants and taverns (up $30 million). There were no decreases greater than $8 million.

Offices and administration buildings contributed 23 percent of the July 2007 value for non-residential buildings. This category's contribution has ranged from 13 to 33 percent in the last 12 months. The next largest contribution was from the shops, restaurants and taverns category at 20 percent, with a range from 9 to 25 percent in the previous 12 months.

In a small economy, high-value individual consents can cause large, irregular fluctuations in building category values.

All buildings

In July 2007, consents to the value of $1,032 million were authorised for all buildings. This was $136 million (15 percent) higher than in July 2006.

Residential buildings contributed 66 percent to the total value of all buildings in July 2007, compared with 68 percent in July 2006. Since July 2006, the contribution of residential buildings to the total value of all buildings has been within the range of 63 to 69 percent.

For the year ended July 2007, the total value of consents issued for all buildings was $11,897 million, up $780 million (7.0 percent) from the July 2006 year. The value of consents issued for residential buildings was $7,805 million, up $805 million (12 percent), while the value of consents issued for non-residential buildings was $4,092 million, down $25 million (1.0 percent).

Please click here for a FREE PDF of the full Commentary from Statistics New Zealand - file size 171KB