Earthquake rebuilding boosts New Zealand dwelling consent approvals by 1.4 per cent
Approvals in Canterbury region reach record high for September with value hitting NZ$60m
The number of new dwelling consents approved in New Zealand rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4 per cent in September, driven by earthquake reconstruction in Canterbury, according to official data.
The data can be volatile because of new apartment consents that if excluded would have seen an increase of 2.6 per cent from a revised 1.1 per cent gain in August.
Statistics New Zealand said the number of new consents for the Canterbury region, which includes Christchurch, the country's second biggest city, hit a record 599 in the month, and was the main driver for the national increase.
The government agency said the value of new consents for Canterbury rose slightly to NZ$60 million (HK$384 million), almost evenly split between new houses and non-residential buildings.
New dwelling consents in Auckland, the country's biggest city, eased nearly 3 per cent from August, but were about 7 per cent higher on a year earlier.
Building consents issued for Auckland and the Canterbury region accounted for 58 per cent of the national total.
The government agency said the trend for non-apartment dwellings was at its highest in five years, although growth appeared to be slowing.
The value of non-residential building consents rose 1 per cent on the previous month to be 9 per cent higher than a year earlier.
For the three months to September 30 the value of residential building work consented hit a record NZ$2.1 billion.
