Building consents track up

There were 2199 consents issued in the month, including 466 apartments.

The seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented decreased 2.1%.

Excluding apartments, this number was up 1.6%.

Statistics NZ said the trend for the number of new dwellings was showing signs of increasing after a brief dip in the middle of last year.

Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the drop in consents in December was less than expected. He said apartment consents did not drop back much after a sharp spike in November.

There were 474 apartment consents issued in November.

“Consents have more or less resumed the strong upward trend of the last few years, having slowed substantially ahead of the September election."

A total 24,680 dwellings were consented for last year, up 16% from 2013.

Statistics NZ business indicators manager Neil Kelly said: “The annual number of new dwellings is at its highest level since 2007. This was mainly driven by increases in Auckland and Canterbury.”

Auckland’s 7595 dwelling consents in 2014 was up 20% on 2013. Canterbury’s 7308 was an increase of 27% and Waikato posted a 5.5% increase to 2369 for the year.