Building consents hit record highs

There are nearly 418,000 houses, flats and apartments in the Auckland supercity. This means Auckland comprises 31.1 per cent of the country by number of properties. Photo / Herald On Sunday

Latest building consent data showed new records set for the national value of house building and in the Canterbury region.

Statistics NZ figures for September showed the sector running red hot.

"The total value of all building work consented in New Zealand in the September 2013 quarter was $3.2 billion: $2.1 billion of residential building work (the highest ever value) and $1.1 billion of non-residential building work," Statistics NZ said.

Consents for the Canterbury region are also at an all-time high.

"A total of 599 new dwellings were consented in Canterbury, the largest number since records began in April 1976," Statistics NZ said.

"Christchurch was the main driver of this month's increase, with a record number of 309 new houses and apartments consented, industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

Across the country, 1860 new dwellings were consented, with Auckland and Canterbury accounting for 58 per cent of the total. The seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings, excluding apartments, rose 2.6 per cent in September.