House building down

The number of consents rose to a seasonally adjusted 1592 from 1563 in January, Statistics New Zealand’s latest figures show.

But without the volatile apartment consents, they fell 3.6%.

Of the 142 apartment consents issued in February, 98 were for retirement village units.

"Housing consents maintained their upward trend in February, consistent with our view that construction will boost economic growth over the next two years, largely but not totally due to post-quake building needs," Westpac Banking economist Michael Gordon said in a note. "Total residential building consents rose 1.9%in February, broadly in line with our expectation, and led by a rebound in apartment consents from sub-par to around average levels."