There were 1985 consents issued in the month, down 12% seasonally adjusted from the month before.

“The trend for new dwellings was previously at its highest level since August 2007. While it’s now easing, the trend is still about 10% higher than at the same time last year,” Statistics NZ business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.

There were 579 consents in Canterbury, 537 in Auckland and 193 in Wellington. Almost $1.3 billion of building work was consented, of which $778 million was residential.

ANZ’s economists said election uncertainties, a slowing housing market and rising short-term interest rates could have put the brakes on in September and a rebound could be expected in October.

ANZ said it expected a slower rate of growth in housing consents this year but a continued firming of numbers.

Westpac economist Michael Gordon said that excluding apartments, which can be volatile, consents were still down more than 10% for the month and were the lowest in more than a year. He said it was a weaker result than had been expected.

“It's possible that some consent applications were held back until after the election, given the threat of a broader capital gains tax on property if there were a change of government. However, we have no way to confirm this until we see the October figures. We note that in the history of this series, there has almost never been a monthly move of 10% or more that hasn't been reversed the following month.”

In contrast, non-residential building consents had another strong month. This was the fourth month in a row that their value has exceeded $400 million.