28 February 2005
Building Consents Issued: January 2005 Embargoed until 10:45am — Typical January for Residential Building Consents
January 2005 was a typically low January for building consents, Statistics New Zealand said today. Consents for 1,793
new dwelling units were issued. This was the first time they have fallen below 2,000 since February 2003. The low
consent numbers typically recorded in January months are most likely due to the summer holiday season. January 1974 and
January 2004 are the only Januarys on record to register more than 2,000 new dwelling units.
Apartment units accounted for 13 percent of all new dwelling units in January 2005, compared with one-quarter of all
new dwelling units in November and December 2004. Consents for 237 new apartment units were issued in January 2005. The
total value of consents issued for non-residential buildings was $242 million in January 2005, up 11 percent on January
2004.
The largest contributor to this value was offices and administration buildings. The trend for the value of
non-residential buildings has risen 28 percent since January 2004, following a period of relative flatness between
January 1995 and December 2003. The Capital Goods Price Index for non-residential buildings was 10 percent higher in the
December 2004 quarter compared with the December 2003 quarter.
The total value of consents issued for all buildings in January 2005 was $755 million, which was similar to the value
for January 2004. Residential buildings contributed 68 percent to the total value of all buildings, compared with 71
percent in January 2004.
Ian Ewing
Acting Government Statistician
ENDS