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Fewer apartments, stand alone houses and retirement village units were consented in February but more townhouses and home units

By Greg Ninness

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There was a slight drop in the number of building consents issued for new homes in February.

According to Statistics NZ, consents were issued for 3129 new dwellings in February, up from 3025 in January but down from 3285 (-4.7%) compared to February last year.

Compared to February last year the decline in consents was particularly severe for apartments -36.7% and retirement village units -31.4%, while consents for stand alone houses were down very slightly at -2.5% and consents for townhouses and units were up 6.4% (see the second interactive table below for the trends in building consents by type of dwelling).

However, on an annual basis, consents for new dwellings are still running higher, with 39,725 new dwelling consents issued in the 12 months to the end of February, up 4.9% compared to the previous 12 months.

All of that growth came from townhouses and units, which were up 37.7% in the 12 months to February compared to the previous 12 months, while consents for stand alone houses were -2.0%, apartments were -11.7% and retirement village units were -20.4%.

The total value of building work consented for new dwellings was $1.229 billion in February, up marginally at +1.1% compared to February last year.

On top of that another another $197 million of residential structural alteration work was consented in February, which was up 18.3% compared to a year earlier.

The numbers varied widely around the regions, with new dwelling consents in Auckland up 14.9% in the 12 months to February compared to the previous 12 months, while consents in Wellington were down 10.7%, Canterbury was up 7.2% and Otago was down 17.6% (see the first interactive chart below for the full regional numbers).

On the commercial property front the value of non-residential construction work spiked sharply in February, rising to $599 million for the month, which was up 24.4% compared to February last year.

But on an annual basis, the value of non-residential construction work consented was down 2.7% in the 12 months to February compared to the previous 12 months.

The total value of all types of building work consented in February was $2.025 billion, up 8.7% compared to February last year.

This story was originally published on Interest.co.nz and has been republished here with permission.