New Zealand Building Permits Jump 2.6% In October

(RTTNews) - The total number of new building permits issued in New Zealand spiked a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent on month in October, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday - coming in at 2,575.

That follows the 0.2 percent increase in September.

Individually, permits were issued for 1,802 houses; 370 townhouses, flats, and units; 229 apartments; and 174 retirement village units.

"One-third of the homes consented over the past year were in Auckland. That's almost 10,000, compared with 9,000 in the previous year," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

"Canterbury and Waikato also feature quite prominently in these statistics, although in Christchurch the post-quake residential rebuild is slowly winding down."

Including alterations, the value of building work consented in October was NZ$1.7 billion, including NZ$1.1 billion of residential work and NZ$526 million of non-residential work.

In the year ended October, 30,161 new dwellings were consented - up 14 percent on year.

The annual number of homes consented has passed 30,000 for the first time in 11 years, the bureau noted.

However, this latest number is 10,000 less than the all-time high of 40,000 reached in early 1974, the bureau added.