September was another cheerless month for residential building consents, although non-commercial consents showed some signs of life.
Figures from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today showed the seasonally adjusted number of new dwelling units, excluding apartments, fell 2.6 percent in September to the lowest level since July 2009. It was the third consecutive decrease.
When apartments are included, seasonally adjusted residential consents rose 0.5 percent, following an 18 percent fall in August.
SNZ noted that the September 4 Canterbury earthquake had some impact on building consents in that region, with consents in the affected territorial authorities about a third lower than the monthly average for the previous 12 months.
The 1262 dwelling units, including apartments, approved last month were down 12 percent from September 2009, while the 1202 units, excluding apartments, were down 5.7 percent.
The 60 apartments consented last month included 50 retirement village units, SNZ said.
Residential building consents were valued at $450 million in September, down 6.2 percent from a year earlier.
In the September quarter the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings was down 13 percent when apartments were excluded. Including apartments the fall was 4.5 percent.
The value of residential consents for the quarter was up 3.8 percent from the September 2009 quarter to $1.41 billion.
For the year to September, consents for new dwelling units were up 20 percent from a year earlier to 16,292, the fourth lowest annual total for a September year since the series started in 1966. The September 2009 year was the lowest.
New dwelling units, excluding apartments, rose 28 percent to 15,450 from the year before, but was still the second lowest annual total for a September year since the series started in 1991.
Residential building consents were worth $5.79b in the September year, up 17 percent from a year before.
The value of non-residential consents rose 42 percent from September 2009 to $365m last month, with the value of hospitals and nursing homes up $65m.
For the September year, non-residential building consents were valued at $3.8b, down 16 percent from a year earlier.
The value of consents for all buildings last month was 11 percent higher than September 2009 at $816m, while for the year the value was up $120m or 1.3 percent to $9.59b.