Rotorua commercial consents down for March but no reflection of market - business group

Commercial building consents issued in Rotorua were down in March compared to last year but experts say the lull is no cause for concern.

In March 2017 Rotorua Lakes Council approved 25 commercial consents, to the value of $11.2 million.

However, this year only 17 commercial consents were approved during the month, amounting to only $2m - an 81.5 per cent decrease in work value.

But Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Allison Lawton said there was still a lot of interest in investing in Rotorua.

"What I would say is that the drop [in commercial consents] is not an indication of what I know is coming through," Lawton said.

She said sometimes it was just a timing issue and that was the case last month.

"We were at the Shane Jones session [this week] and there's a lot of opportunity through the regional investment fund and there's a lot of positivity around how we access that," Lawton said.

"So my view is just that it's timing, more than concern there's a lull."

Master Builders Association president Bill Clement said the drop in consents may be because it was the end of the financial year.

"One would assume that not many people have put their plans in place for the next year so I'd say there will be quite a bit of uptake in April," Clement said.

He said there a lot of big projects in Rotorua that had just been completed, which may also explain the lull.

Last March several big projects were approved in Rotorua including Kmart, which had a work value of $6m.

The $2m RSA building renovation and upgrade was also approved last March.

Top three commercial consents issued in March 2018

McDowell Property for a new building $362,250
Te Awa Farms for new cowshed $338,000
Bunnings for internal and external alterations $300,000