New home approvals on the upward trend

A September drop in the number of new home approvals across Hawke's Bay was not a signal of a downward trend, Statistics New Zealand said.

Instead, it was the opposite as the decrease in seasonably adjusted figures for new home approvals partly reflected the strength of increases over the previous two months.

In August, there had been 54 new approvals in Hawke's Bay - 30 more than September's figure of 24.

Industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said the overall trend taken over recent months showed approvals were starting to show a rise.

Hawke's Bay was among 10 of the country's 16 regions to post a September decrease.

Wellington also posted a big drop over 12 months - from 107 to 65.

The monthly figures for the region since last September revealed the new home approvals programme was something of a rollercoaster ride with 33 last October, 51 in November, 26 in December and 37 in January.

The lowest monthly figure was April this year with just 23 approvals.

Across the whole of the North Island, there were 865 approvals.

In dollar terms, the September figure for the Bay was $6 million worth of approvals - the same as in April and June but down from the $14 million in August.

It reflected the national trend over the two months.