Building consents continue to defy gravity

That’s an increase of 7% on the previous year.

A total of $33 billion of residential and non-residential building work has been consented in the September year, despite the property market downturn which started kicking in from February.

Statistics NZ data shows 4,600 new homes were consented last month, the highest number since March and up 1.7% compared to September last year.

Although stand-alone houses are still the favourite dwelling type and more than 22,697 were consented in the September year, their numbers are down 10.9% compared to a year ago, while the number of townhouses and units are rising.