December Statistics Reflect a Steady Year for Building

“For the full 2006 year, residential consent numbers by dollar value were up 6% and non-residential down by 5%. Overall building consents figures for the year were up by 1.9%, which reflects a consistent year overall,” Burghout said.

There were some regional variations in the December building consent figures with Auckland authorising fewer new dwelling units in December 2006 than in December 2005 (down by 480 units), which was largely attributable to fewer apartments.

“Waikato (up 26 units) showed the largest increase in authorising new dwelling units followed closely by Wellington (up 19 units) with Canterbury remaining relatively steady at 351 units. This reflects anecdotal evidence we have been hearing from RMB members about the state of the construction industry around the country with work remaining quite steady,” Burghout said.

“As for the commercial sector we anticipate this to remain relatively steady for the next few months given the projected work volumes and building projects in the pipeline,” Burghout said.

“2007 will be a busy year in other ways for builders, in particular with voluntary builder licensing being introduced in November 2007 – had the industry been less buoyant, licensing of practitioners might have scared builders away. As it stands, we can expect a steady uptake of builder licensing given the strong position of the construction industry – a very useful outcome for the industry as a whole,” Burghout says.