Earthquakes put building consents in rocky territory
A prominent economic indicator shows building consent authorisations dropped 1.4% in June after adjusting for seasonal effects.
A prominent economic indicator shows building consent authorisations dropped 1.4% in June after adjusting for seasonal effects.
If the volatile apartment category was excluded the number of new homes shows a larger fall of 4.5%, according to Statistics New Zealand.
“As we saw in the May figures, when apartments are excluded, the longer-term trend shows a small increase in homes authorised recently,” industry insider Louise Holmes-Oliver said.
“However, while the trend has certainly flattened after a year in decline, it is still not possible to confirm it has started to rise – at least one more month of positive movement would be necessary.”
In Canterbury, earthquake-related consents totalling $14 million were identified in June 2011. These included $8million of non-residential consents and $6million of residential consents, including eight new dwellings.
For the year ended June 2011, the value of non-residential building consents was $3,704 million, down 4.3% compared with the previous June year.
Economic researchers J.P. Morgan said persistent Christchurch aftershocks were imposing constraints on the rebuilding process and impeding economic recovery.
Permits were down the most by region in earthquake-affected Canterbury.
The stall in approvals post-quake comes after a sustained period of weakness from mid-2010, when the economy lost significant momentum.
NBR staff
Fri, 29 Jul 2011
Fri, 29 Jul 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Earthquakes put building consents in rocky territory
16118