The unadjusted figures show new housing consents rose from 1,678 worth $267.6 million in September to 1,931 worth 299.8 million in October. That compared with 2,020 worth $301.4 million in August.
Nevertheless, the October consents were nearly 22% higher than the 1,585 worth $231.5 million approved in October last year.
Statistics New Zealand says that after declining since late 1999, the trend in housing consent numbers has been rising since January this year, but the number of consents each month is still significantly lower than in 1999.
"The actual number of new dwellings has mostly ranged between 1,600 and 1,900 units since March 2001, whereas in 1999 the number was regularly over 2,000," it says.
Consent numbers rose in 10 of the 16 regions Statistics New Zealand measures compared with October last year. In particular, the 847 consents in the Auckland region were the highest since May 2000.
The number of apartment consents jumped sharply from 163 worth $17.8 million in September to 253 worth $21.8 million in October. That’s still well down on the 444 worth $34.8 million approved in August but well above the 169 worth $16.9 million approved in October last year.
In the year ended October, there were 19,533 new dwellings worth $3.53 billion approved, down from 21,261 worth $3.64 billion in the previous year.
The number of apartments approved in the latest year was 2,434 worth $210.4 million, down from 2,792 worth $240.2 million in the previous year.
