Building activity slows

"The trend for new dwellings has more than doubled since the series low in March 2011, but is still 25% below the series peak in January 2004,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.

In August 2014, the seasonally-adjusted number of new dwellings consented was unchanged from July, but fell 1.6% when apartments are excluded.

In unadjusted terms, 2022 new dwellings were consented in August (including 254 apartments).

The regions that consented the most new dwellings were:
• Auckland – 656 (including 213 apartments)
• Canterbury – 540.

Almost $1.2 billion of building work was consented in August, with $753 million of residential work and $433 million of non-residential work.

Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the statistics for August were slightly better than his earlier assumption of a 1% decline but there was more of a skew towards apartment units than had been expected.

"Indeed, it's clear that the apartments segment of the market has become a major growth area again in the last year."