Liz Kendall, Senior Economist at ANZ, notes that New Zealand’s dwelling consent issuance plunged in July with residential consents falling 10.4% m/m, following an 8.2% drop in June.
Key Quotes
“The dip was seen across both apartments and houses. Consents for houses tend to be less volatile and fell 6% m/m in July after a 3.9% dip last month. Multi-dwelling consents were down 17.8% m/m, after falling 14.7% in June.”
“Building work remains at a high level. Consented floor area – which aligns more closely to building work – dipped 3.5% m/m in July, after falling 16.0% in June. However, this follows a 20% increase in May.Nonetheless, the trend is pointing down.”
“In trend terms growth in residential consents has been waning (from increasing 3.3% m/m in February to falling 2.1% per month currently) and today’s data represent a meaningful drop.”
“On the non-residential side, consents also fell, with $484m in consents issued – a monthly fall of 13%, although these consents can be volatile.”
“Today’s data are consistent with reports that the construction pipeline is waning. Month to month moves can be volatile but the outlook is looking less assured and there may be some bumps in the road ahead, especially given business pessimism and moderating investment intentions.”
Share
