Building consents fall in August

Building consents for Auckland homes rose in June to 704 from 599.

Residential building consents fell 4.9 per cent in August as the Canterbury rebuild shifts focus towards commercial work.

Seasonally adjusted consents declined to 2,397 last month from 2,520 in July, when they spiked 20 per cent, according to Statistics New Zealand. Of that, permits to build new houses fell 2.7 per cent to 1,661.

On an unadjusted basis, residential consents rose 11 per cent to 2,291 from the same month a year earlier, led by a 36 per cent gain in retirement village units. Housing consents rose 9 per cent to 1,617, while apartment permits dropped 39 percent to 65. Dwelling consents were up 8 per cent on an annual basis to 25,928.

"The decline in the number of residential consents in August was not as pronounced as expected, meaning the trend upward is stronger than originally thought," Westpac Bank economist David Norman said in a note. "Given the shift to multi-unit buildings in Auckland, we can expect to see more of these monthly fluctuations, as large new developments are consented or not."

Construction intentions were strong in non-residential work, with a 52 per cent increase in the value of permits to $671 million, of which almost two-thirds was in Canterbury, driven by a number of high-value consents including the $137 million Regional Science and Innovation Centre at the University of Canterbury.

"Christchurch really stands out this month, because we've got these non-residential consents accounting for a big chunk of the national total," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement. "What we're seeing in Christchurch is a few big consents for offices, hospitals, and the university."

New Zealand has a strong construction pipeline over the next six years, due largely to an under-supply of housing in Auckland, the country's biggest city.

Auckland residential consents rose 6.9 per cent to 741 in August from the same month a year earlier, amounting to almost a third of permits across the country.

The value of all construction consents rose 31 per cent to $1.61 billion in August from a year earlier, and were up 12 per cent on an annual basis to $15.95 billion.

See more from the latest Building Consent stats here: