Building Consents Issued: April 2015 – Media Release

Apartment consents reached a seven-year high in April 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Building consents were issued for 467 apartments. Almost all of these apartments will be built in Auckland.

“Consented apartment numbers often fluctuate, but have returned to historical average levels in the last couple of years, following four low years,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.

“Consents for houses and townhouses are also at historical average levels, while retirement village consents have reached record highs over the past year.”

In April 2015, a total of 2,112 new dwellings were consented – up 1.4 percent from the same month last year.

However, the seasonally adjusted number fell 1.7 percent in April compared with March, and the trend is easing.

The regions that consented the most new dwellings in April were:

Auckland – 912

Canterbury – 427

Waikato – 220.

Consents for all buildings totalled $1.2 billion in April, with $757 million for residential buildings and $419 million for non-residential buildings.

Of the non-residential consents value, Canterbury accounted for 31 percent, and Auckland 27 percent.

We have made changes to our building consents statistics. See the Definitions and Data quality sections of the information release for more information.

Ends

For media enquiries contact: Neil Kelly, Christchurch 03 964 8700, info@stats.govt.nz

Authorised by Liz MacPherson, Government Statistician, 29 May 2015