The latest figures released by Statistics New Zealand showed the Dunedin City Council issued 14 consents for new dwellings in Dunedin in January this year, down 44% on January last year (25 consents).
The value of consents for new non-residential buildings rose slightly in the city to $234,000 in January this year ($227, 499 in January last year) during a traditionally quiet month.
Throughout Otago, consents for new housing units dropped 40% (from 112 to 67) for the month, but in the much harder-hit Auckland region consents were down 59% (to 186) in January.
In Otago, the value of consents for new housing fell 31% (from $35 million to $24 million) for the month, well below Auckland's 56% drop, to $54 million.
Otago's drop in new housing value was also well below the overall national figure (53%), with the region outperforming 11 of 15 other regions in the country.
Canterbury was down 50%, with Southland and Wellington down 22% and 20% respectively.
Dunedin City Council chief building control officer Neil McLeod said the construction downturn was "not catastrophic" in Dunedin and noted that some other parts of the country had fared considerably worse.
Dunedin architects, designers and builders were still busy, although some builders now had about three months of work lined up, as opposed to nine to 12 months previously.
One positive aspect was that more ready availability of builders was enabling some Dunedin householders to pursue home modifications and improvements, such as adding a storey to their house, and this work had been increasing since last year, Mr McLeod said.
Building activity in Dunedin in recent years had been less volatile than elsewhere in the country and had never been "tremendously overheated".
Some major building projects, such as the Otago Stadium and the proposed Bunnings development in Strathallan St, were still forthcoming, and work on the Otago Settlers Museum redevelopment was continuing, he said.
In the Queenstown-Lakes district, consents for new dwelling units dropped only slightly, to 35 for the month, from 39 in January last year.
And the value of non-residential building consents rose in the district, from $795,000 to $994,302 for the month.
In the Central Otago District Council area, new housing consents dropped from 33 to 10, and the value of non-residential consents fell from $658,883 to $65,000 for the month.
In the Waitaki district, the fall in new housing consents was much smaller (down six, to nine ), with the value of non-residential consents falling from $1,743,000 to $427,460 this January.
Lakes Environmental chief executive Hamish Dobbie said the relatively positive outcome in Queenstown, Dunedin and Otago showed there was a bit more "resiliency in the southern economy".
Builders were still busy in the Queenstown-Lakes district and its residents might not have been as "hard hit by the recession as in some other areas", Mr Dobbie said.
People had been taking a measured approach to building projects in the South, being less likely to rush in but "less likely to bail on you as well", he said.
Throughout the country, consents were issued for a total of 812 new dwelling units, including apartments, the lowest monthly total since Statistics New Zealand began producing such figures in 1965.
Residential consents throughout the country amounted to $329 million for the month, 39% down on January last year.
Consents for all buildings amounted to $692 million, with residential buildings contributing 48% to that value.
This was the first month since June 1998 that residential buildings had contributed less than non-residential buildings, officials said.
