February housing consents at 30-year high

The figures show 2,529 consents for new dwellings worth $478.3 million were issued in February, a 0.7% increase from January in seasonally adjusted terms. This was on top of the 12.1% (revised upwards from 11.1%) increase in January.

The February consents were 40.7% higher than the 1,797 consents worth $330.4 million issued in February last year.

Consents for the year ended February were up 11% to 30,923, the highest number recorded for a year ended February since 1976.

Deutsche Bank senior economist Darren Gibbs says the February figures are much stronger than expected. "A continued high level of apartment consents was the main surprise. Excluding apartments, we estimate that ‘single-unit’ dwellings recorded a 2.5% month-on-month decline."