Auckland building consents top $1 billion
For the first time, the monthly value of building consents issued in Auckland exceeded $1 billion, Stats NZ said today.
The September 2020 monthly value of building consents issued in Auckland accounted for about 44 percent of the national total of $2.4 billion. Auckland makes up about one-third of New Zealand’s population.
“This is the first time a region has issued more than $1 billion worth of building consents in a single month, with more than $700 million coming from residential projects,” acting construction statistics manager Bryan Downes said.
“This reflects both the rising volumes of building consents and higher construction costs.”
Number of new homes consented strong in September
New Zealand had a total of 3,605 new homes consented in September 2020, with Auckland accounting for 1,734. This was the highest number of monthly new homes consented in Auckland since October 2002, and nationally since May 2019.
In the September 2020 quarter, the total number of new homes consented in New Zealand was 10,143.
The number of new homes consented in the 2020 quarters has been similar to 2019. However, monthly consent numbers have shown more volatility, particularly between March and May, as a result of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions when non-essential businesses temporarily closed.
The number of new homes consented in Auckland for the September 2020 year was 15,470, and 37,725 nationally. This was the highest number of annual new homes consented in Auckland since the series began in April 1990.
“Although COVID-19 has created more uncertainty around building consents, the current levels of consents granted indicate a lot of building work intending to be completed,” Mr Downes said.
Most residential building work is typically completed within a year or two after the consent has been issued. However, building work may have been impacted by the effects of COVID-19, with many projects experiencing significant delays in completion dates. Most construction sites were temporarily shut during the alert level 4 lockdown and faced restrictions during lower alert levels.
Consents are an intention to build, while Value of building work put in place results measure work completed, which better reflects delays or project cancellations.
Changes to building consent exemptions
From 31 August 2020, some building projects no longer needed a building consent. These projects are typically low-value and low-risk. See New building consent exemptions on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s website for more information.
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