Housing consents fall in August

On a seasonally adjusted basis there were 2176 consents issued for new dwelling units in August, down 4.8% from the previous month, according to data released by Statistics New Zealand today.

This was the second month in a row numbers have fallen. A revised 2286 consents were issued in July, down 34.6% on June. Looking at the trend series, which strips out seasonal factors, 2249 building consents were issued in August, down 3.3% on July. This was the seventh consecutive month the trend series has fallen.

But annual totals remained high, with consents for 32,169 new dwelling units issued in the year ended August, up 9% on the year-earlier.

The total number of new dwelling units for the year was the largest total recorded for an August year since 1974.

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