Housing Minister Nick Smith and economists had a different take on building consent figures released yesterday by Statistics New Zealand.
Dr Smith took the annual figure of 26,185 consents issued nationally for the year ended September which showed an eight-year high.
Meanwhile Westpac and ASB economists focused on the residential consents issued in the month of September which fell 5.7%, below forecast.
ASB economist Jane Turner said the September fall in residential building consents followed the 5.3% fall in August and followed a ''massive'' 20% lift in July.
However, the trend in residential consents remained encouraging for the September quarter, particularly for stand-alone houses.
In September, the key source of weakness was a from a decline in consents for townhouses in both Auckland and Canterbury. Consents for stand-alone houses remained firm.
Westpac industrial economist David Norman said Auckland consent numbers were ''broadly flat'' for the month in seasonally adjusted terms, although at the annual level of just above 8700, supply was still well below what was needed to meet the long-term shortage in housing Auckland was experiencing.
Evidence had emerged of the residential phase of the Canterbury rebuild was beginning to wind down.
The number of residential consents issued in the region fell nearly 16% in the month, he said.
Dr Smith, while focusing on the annual number of consents, said the 26,185 issued in the year ended September was the highest in any 12-month period since 2007 and was double the low of 13,236 following the global financial crisis.
''I also welcome the 8271 consents issued for Auckland in the year to September. This is up 18% on the same period in the last year and the highest since 2005.''
He was further encouraged by the finding from Statistics New Zealand the trend for consents in Auckland remained at an 11-year high, Dr Smith said.
''This is an important indicator of growth and the latest record in Auckland has been driven in part by an increase in the number of apartments, which are an important part of the solution to Auckland's housing supply and affordability issues.''
The latest figures confirmed the direction of the Government's housing policies, Dr Smith said.
In Dunedin, there were 25 residential consents issued in September, up from 21 in August. Invercargill had a substantial rise to 31 from nine.
Central Otago rose by two consents to 16 in September and Queenstown-Lakes rose three to 65.
