Housing consent figures grew modestly last month but the recovery from recession remains sluggish.Figures published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show the number of consents issued for new homes rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in June, when
Housing consent figures grew modestly last month but the recovery from recession remains sluggish.
Figures published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show the number of consents issued for new homes rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in June, when apartment numbers, which tend to be volatile, are excluded. In May there was a 10 percent fall.
Including apartments, the seasonally adjusted number of new homes authorised last month was up 3.5 percent, following a 9.5 percent fall in May.
The 1316 residential consents, excluding apartments, was up from 967 in June last year, while the 1373 consents with apartments included was up from 1100 a year earlier.
The value of non-residential building consents fell 26 percent last month from a year earlier to $228m, with education buildings down $39m and storage buildings down $32m.
Goldman Sachs JBWere economist Philip Borkin said the number of consents remained historically low, while further near-term falls in the value of non-residential consents looked possible.
But rather than the headline figures, it was the floor area of consents that were more relevant for the likes of actual construction activity, Mr Borkin said.
Encouragingly, that rose a seasonally adjusted 7.8 percent in June from the month before, while alterations and additions last month were at a record high $109m.
But even against that backdrop, only a gradual pick up in residential investment was suggested in the coming quarters.
He had already been expecting a reasonably sluggish recovery in construction, but now saw more downside risks.
ANZ said it still expected residential investment to rise off cyclical lows as the labour market recovery gathered pace.
But with population inflows from net immigration slowing to a trickle and with other headwinds still weighting, the upswing would not be as large as in past cycles.
SNZ's figures show that for the year to June the number of new dwellings authorised, including apartments, rose 14 percent from a year earlier to 16,167 units.
The apartments excluded number was up 25 percent to 15,384 units, which was still the second lowest annual total for a June year since the series started in 1991, SNZ said.
For the year the value of residential building consents rose $625m or 12 percent to $5.7 billion, while the value of non-residential building consents fell $857m or 18 percent to $3.9b.
The largest non-residential category fall for the year was in offices and administration buildings, which fell $521m, while factories and industrial buildings were down $155m. Hospital and nursing home consents rose $174m in the year to June from a year earlier.
All building work authorised last month was valued at $736m, up 6.4 percent from June 2009.
For the June quarter, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings authorised, excluding apartments, was up 0.7 percent, following a rise of 3.4 percent in the March quarter.
Including apartments, the seasonally adjusted number of dwelling consents was down 6.6 percent in the June quarter.
