The September figures show the number of new housing consents fell to 1,678 worth $267.6 million from 2,020 worth $301.4 million in August.
The seasonally adjusted figures also show a sharp 9.2% dip in September from August.
David Thomas at Statistics New Zealand says the seasonally adjusted series are very volatile and people should avoid reading too much into an individual monthly movement.
The unadjusted August figures exceeded 2,000 for the first time since May 2000. Statistics New Zealand figures show the number of consents has mostly ranged between 1,500 and 1,800 per month since June 2000.
Still, the September consents were 50 fewer than in September last year.
The figures also show a sharp dip in apartment consents from 444 worth $34.8 million in August to 163 worth $17.8 million in September. But that’s only slightly down from the 169 apartments worth $16.9 million approved in September last year.
In the year ended September, there were 19,533 new dwellings worth $2.93 billion approved, down from 21,793 worth $3.09 billion in the previous year.
The number of apartments approved in the latest year was 2,350 worth $204.8 million, down from 2,843 worth $240.2 million in the previous year.
