Home building consents slump in July

The seasonally adjusted number of new houses authorised in July, excluding apartments, slumped 5.3 per cent, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.

That followed a 1.1 per cent rise in June.

When the volatile apartment category is included, the number of new housing units authorised rose 3.1 per cent, following a 3.3 per cent rise in June.

Last month consents were issued for 1473 new housing units, of which 203 were for apartments.

It was the highest monthly number of apartment units authorised for more than a year, with more than half for retirement units, SNZ business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said today.

The value of consents issued for residential buildings was $490 million - $48m or 11 per cent higher last month than in July 2009. In contrast, the value for non-residential buildings fell $78m or 21 per cent to $293m, SNZ said.

The value of consents for all buildings was down 3.6 per cent from a year earlier to $783m.

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Posted: 31 Aug 2010

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