Residential building consent data out from Statistics NZ show the number of new consents issued in Waikato rose in April by 48, to 152 new dwellings (including 30 apartments).
Darren Gibbs of Deutsche Bank said the strongest gains across the country were in the Waikato, up 46 per cent annually. Overall the pace of residential building issuance across the whole of New Zealand rose in April compared with last April and apartments accounted for a third of the rise.
Blair Cardno, industry and labour statistics manager, said the trend for the number of new houses, including apartments, has been steadily rising over the past year.
Building consents excluding volatile apartment figures climbed 22 per cent to 1,092 worth $334 million in April from the same month a year earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand.
They were down from 1,394 consents worth $415 million in March.
