Housing Consents Steady in May

Embargoed until 10:45am – 28 June 2007

Housing Consents Steady in May

Building consents for 2,322 new housing units were issued in May 2007, a similar level to that recorded in May 2006, Statistics New Zealand said today. For the year ended May 2007, consents for 25,958 new housing units were issued, 1 percent higher than the previous May year. This is the first May year since 1997 that the year on year change has shown an increase or decrease smaller than 10 percent.

In May 2007, there were 115 fewer new housing units authorised in the North Island and 109 more units in the South Island, compared with May 2006. The Waikato region had the largest increase, and the Auckland region had the largest decrease, when comparing the two May months.

There were 110 new apartment units authorised in May 2007, compared with 217 in May 2006. Apartment units accounted for 5 percent of all new housing units authorised in May 2007, compared with a monthly average of 11 percent for the previous 12 months.

In May 2007, the value of consents for all residential buildings rose $64 million, compared with May 2006.

The trend has been increasing for the past 5 months.

For non-residential buildings, the value of consents issued for May 2007 was $392 million, $3 million higher than in May 2006. Offices and administration buildings recorded the largest increase, while hotels and other short-term accommodation recorded the largest decrease.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician

ENDS

© Scoop Media