The number of new dwelling consents issued south of the Waitaki River, and their value, took a hit in August as the main focus of activity in New Zealand continued to be in Auckland and Canterbury.
In Dunedin, 21 consents were issued in August compared with 35 in July and 17 in June.
In August last year, 24 consents were issued in the city.
Fourteen consents were issued in Central Otago in the month, down from 18 in July and 22 in June.
In August last year, 11 consents were issued in Central Otago.
Queenstown-Lakes showed a significant fall in consents issued, down 27% to 62 in August from 85 in July.
In August last year, 48 consents were issued.
Nine consents were issued in Invercargill in the month, down from 12.
Statistics New Zealand uses a different regional grouping when it comes to values of consents.
In total, Otago had 104 consents issued in August, down from 152 in July.
Total value was $42 million in August and $56 million in July.
Across New Zealand, residential dwelling consents were lower by 5% in August, following a 20% rise in July.
Non-residential consents were up 16% from the previous 12-month period.
ASB senior economist Jane Turner said the consent correction in August was relatively modest given July's whopping increase.
A correction in Auckland apartment consents issued was the key driver of the August fall, which was unsurprising as it was typically a volatile series.
The trend in consents issued for houses, town houses and retirement village units remained encouraging.
From a regional perspective, Canterbury residential consents appeared to have stabilised following falls in the first half of the year, she said.
''This development highlights there is plenty of pent-up residential rebuild demand remaining in Canterbury. This is also consistent with our view Canterbury construction activity, while off its recent peak, will hold up at relatively high levels.''
The value of non-residential consents continued to climb.
A surge in Canterbury consents was behind the most recent lift, Ms Turner said.
Business confidence surveys pointed to a fall in commercial building intentions but a reduction in interest rates could help stabilise business confidence and construction demand.
