Consented housing has for the first time passed more than $10 billion in a year across the country, with Otago ramping up its house numbers 85%, for August.
Eleven of 16 regions around the country booked a rise in consented new dwellings for August against the corresponding month last year and Otago’s 85% was one of the biggest percentage gains, albeit with actual house numbers rising from 104 to 192.
Across the country 2834 new houses were consented during August, with Auckland rising 31% to 907, Waikato up 35% to 314 and Bay of Plenty up 53% to 217 homes.
Seasonally adjusted, the number of consented homes fell 1% in August, following an 8% decline in July.
For the entire 12 months to August, 29,627 new homes across the country were consented, with a total estimated value of just over $10billion.
ASB senior economist Jane Turner said the building consents "remained highly volatile" but the underlying trend was still "encouraging", given construction activity was a key driving force of economic growth.
The seasonally adjusted falls, down 1% for August and 8% for July, were only a partial reverse of June’s "thumping" 20% increase.
"The weakness in August is largely due to apartment and retirement unit consents, both of which are volatile month to month due to the lumpy nature of projects," Mrs Turner said.
Statistics New Zealand business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said the consent values were the highest ever, but in terms of numbers the country had not built quite as many homes as in 2004, and was well short of the mid-’70s building boom.
In Auckland, 9851 new homes were consented over the year to August, with an estimated value of $3.8billion.
In Otago, 1489 new homes were consented in the year to August, with an estimated value of $666million.
"The picture for the South Island was mixed, with a decrease in Canterbury as the residential rebuild starts to unwind, but an increase in Otago," Mr Kelly said.
For the first time in monthly totals, new home consents were valued at just over $1billion in August.
Mrs Turner said that by region, the performance remained "fairly broad-based", with the exception of Canterbury which was still easing off its earthquake-rebuild peak.
"Furthermore, the strong gains in consent issuance over the past three months in Auckland are encouraging, given the extent of Auckland’s housing supply shortages," she said.
