Canterbury and Auckland drive an increase in new houses

he number of new houses consented grew 22 percent in September 2012, compared with September 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. There were 1,520 new houses consented in September, including 186 apartments.

"Canterbury and Auckland drove the national increase in new houses in September 2012," industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said. "The number of new houses was up 80 percent in Canterbury and up 50 percent in Auckland."

Canterbury and Auckland regions had the largest increases in new housing numbers in September 2012 compared with September 2011. This month, the growth in Canterbury came from Christchurch city, along with Waimakariri and Selwyn districts. 

Housing consent numbers for September 2012, compared with September 2011, were:

• 1,520 new houses, including apartments (up 22 percent)
• 1,334 new houses, excluding apartments (up 19 percent)
• 186 new apartments (up from 122).

Compared with August 2012, and after removing seasonal fluctuations, the number of new houses, including apartments, increased 7.8 percent in September 2012. Excluding apartments, the number of new houses increased 5.6 percent. The trend for both series has been growing for 18 months.

In Canterbury, earthquake-related building consents totalled $58 million in September 2012. Of this, $17 million was for residential work and $41 million was for non-residential work.

Data for building consents is obtained from all territorial authorities in New Zealand.