September 1, 2015 3:00pm by David Farrar

Consents up

Stats NZ reports:

There were 2,824 new dwellings consented nationally in July 2015, up 24 percent compared with July 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today.

“This was the highest number of new dwellings consented in a month since March 2005,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. “It was boosted by apartments and townhouses, flats, and units.”

New dwellings consented in July 2015, compared with July 2014:

nationally, up 542 (24 percent) to 2,824

Auckland, up 267 (31 percent) to 1,116

Waikato, up 85 (40 percent) to 296.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number was up 20 percent from June 2015.

It’s good to see the growth in consents, as that is a pre-requisite to increasing the supply of houses and apartments, and reducing pressure on prices.

I always prefer annual data to monthly. Here’s what the annualised data looks like.

So consents fell pretty consistently from 2004 to 2009. They were then level at around 25,000 for around three years, and in the last two and a half years have increased by 75% or so.