Rebound in house building hits a wall, figures show

House construction's rebound has taken a reverse swerve.

Statistics NZ figures yesterday showed the sector slipping into a decline after a big recovery in the past few months.

The number of housing consents issued in December was down 2.4 per cent compared with November but annually the number fell 23 per cent.

Consents were up since March but still much lower than about mid-2007.

"The trend level is now similar to the levels seen in mid-2008," Statistics NZ said. "Building consents were issued for 1260 new housing units in December. Consents were issued for 93 new apartment units.

"The value of residential building consents was $494 million, an increase of 12 per cent compared with the previous year while the value of non-residential building consents was $404 million, an increase of 5.6 per cent."

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Posted: 30 Jan 2010

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