New building consents patchy, but signs of revival

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New residential dwelling consent data continues to be patchy with numbers hovering at between about 1900 and just over 2000 consents a month in New Zealand.

But overall, the residential building sector is showing a strong recovery.

In the year to September, 24,102 new housing consents were granted by territorial authorities, well up on last year's 19,775, giving an indication of a revival.

Activity is particularly busy in Christchurch where New Zealand's biggest residential rebuild is under way and where Fletcher expects to finish repairs by April.

Statistics NZ has this morning released the latest building consent data for September, showing numbers rose slightly to 778 residential consents issued in September, up on August's 753 consents but down on July's 876.

"The trend for new dwellings was previously at its highest level since August 2007. While it's now easing, the trend is still about 10 percent higher than at the same time last year," said Statistics NZ business indicators manager Neil Kelly.

The regions that consented the most new dwellings were Canterbury, followed by Auckland then Wellington.

Almost $1.3 billion of building work was consented in September, with $778 million of residential work and $484 million of non-residential work, Statistics NZ said.

Read the full release from Statistics NZ here:

New residential dwellings consents granted (years to September)

2009 13,616
2010 16,292
2011 13,500
2012 16,000
2013 19,775
2014 24,102

Data by month, 2014 (residential dwelling consents only)

January 1644
February 1768
March 1999
April 2082
May 2125
June 2002
July 2282
August 2022
September 1985
[Source: Statistics NZ]