The number of new residential dwelling consents issued fell sharply in November, down 9.2%. While the recent Kaikoura earthquake may be playing some role, the result also reflected a normal pull-back following earlier strength.
We will be watching next month’s figures for more definite signs about how the recent earthquakes have affected building.
Over the year, dwelling consent issuance was up 5%.
Looking into the regional breakdown of consents, we see that dwelling consent issuance in Auckland is up 6% over the month, taking the total number of new dwellings consented over the past year to just over 10,100.
This is still below the level Auckland needs in light of the region’s strong population growth and existing housing shortage.
More concerning, the trend in dwelling consent issuance in Auckland appears to have flattened off.
In Canterbury, dwelling consent issuance did pick up by 6% over the month. However, residential construction has taken a noticeable step down over the past year as the housing stock has been rebuilt. We expect this trend will continue over the coming year.
Consent issuance fell sharply in Wellington.
While some of this may be due to earthquake related disruptions, this follows strong issuance in the past few months (including a large number of apartments) which could have been expected to ease regardless.
The value of non-residential consent issued rose 3% over the past year, with just under $6 billon of work consented.
