Building Consents Issued: January 2016
Embargoed until 10:45am – 29 February 2016

Key facts
In January 2016, building consents were issued for 1,695 new dwellings, comprising:
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1,286 houses
89 apartments
135 retirement village units
185 townhouses, flats, and units.

The seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented fell 8.2 percent in January 2016.

The actual value of building work consented in January 2016 was $1.1 billion. For January 2016
compared with January 2015:
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residential work was up $112 million (17 percent) to $756 million
non-residential work was down $43 million (12 percent) to $310 million.

Liz MacPherson, Government Statistician
ISSN 1178-0231
29 February 2016

 Commentary
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New dwellings almost unchanged in January
Canterbury new dwellings trend continues to fall
New dwellings up in regions near Auckland, down in Canterbury
Canterbury earthquake-related consents total $3.5 billion
Non-residential building consents down
Consents for all buildings total $1.1 billion in January

Figures given are not adjusted for seasonal fluctuations unless otherwise stated. Values include
GST and are not adjusted for inflation.

New dwellings almost unchanged in January
In January 2016, a total of 1,695 new dwellings were consented, down just 8 on the same month
a year earlier. Compared with January 2015:
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houses were up 145 to 1,286
apartments were down 28 to 89
retirement village units were up 9 to 135
townhouses, flats, and units were down 134 to 185.

The seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented fell 8.2 percent, while the trend
eased 0.5 percent.

For houses only, the seasonally adjusted number fell 5.6 percent, and the trend eased 0.3
percent.

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 Canterbury new dwellings trend continues to fall
The trend for the number of new dwellings consented in Canterbury peaked in September 2014,
following three-and-a-half years of sustained growth. The trend level has fallen 21 percent in the
last 16 months.
Note: Trend movements, particularly for recent months, may be revised when we add future
months to the series.

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 New dwellings up in regions near Auckland, down in Canterbury
The number of new dwellings consented increased in 9 of the 16 regions in January 2016 when
compared with January 2015.
Regions with the largest increases were:
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Waikato – up 81 (45 percent) to 261
Bay of Plenty – up 55 (40 percent) to 194
Northland – up 28 (67 percent) to 70.

The number of new dwellings consented in Canterbury was down 178 (38 percent) to 289. In
Auckland, the new dwelling count was 24 higher than the same month a year ago,
and accounted for 30 percent of the national total.

Canterbury earthquake-related consents total $3.5 billion
Since September 2010, $3.5 billion of Canterbury's consents have been identified as
earthquake-related building consents. This includes consents for 4,187 new dwellings.
Not all earthquake-related consents can be identified. For comparison, total figures for
Canterbury from September 2010 to January 2016 were:
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$16 billion of building consents (all construction)
27,150 new dwellings consented.

In January 2016, the value of consents identified as earthquake-related in Canterbury was $26
million (of a total of $185 million for Canterbury). This included 34 new dwellings (of a total of
289).

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 Non-residential building consents down
The value of consents for non-residential buildings in January 2016 was $310 million – down $43
million (12 percent) from January 2015.
The largest increase was in consents for education buildings, up $40 million (92 percent) to $84
million.

The regions that contributed the highest value of non-residential building consents in January
2016, and change from January 2015 were:
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Auckland – $125 million, up $36 million
Canterbury – $58 million, down $72 million
Wellington – $47 million, up $26 million.

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 Consents for all buildings total $1.1 billion in January
The total value of building work consented in January 2016 was $1.1 billion, up $68 million (6.9
percent) on January 2015. The $1.1 billion comprised $756 million of residential work, and $310
million of non-residential work.

Data for building consents is obtained from all territorial authorities in New Zealand.
For more detailed data, see the Excel tables in the 'Downloads' box.

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 Definitions
About building consents issued
Building consents issued contains statistics on consents for residential and non-residential
buildings by region and building type. It includes the number, value, and floor area of new
residential dwellings, and the value of consents for residential alterations and additions. It also
includes the value of consents for non-residential buildings, and the floor area of new nonresidential buildings.
Values include goods and services tax and are not inflation adjusted. We classify buildings
according to their main intended function. Subsequent changes in function will be recorded in the
statistics if new consents are issued. Territorial authorities issue building consents.

More definitions
Apartments: are dwellings identified as apartments on building consents, excluding those in
retirement villages.
Building nature: refers to the nature of the construction, and includes new buildings, altered,
and new-plus-altered buildings.
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Alterations and additions: includes building repairs, alterations, additions, extensions,
strengthening, re-cladding, and relocation to another site.
New buildings: are new constructions, and include conversions. For example, if a hotel
is converted to apartments, the value of building work is classified to new dwellings.

Dwellings: are self-contained permanent residences. Examples include houses, apartments,
townhouses, granny flats, and licence-to-occupy retirement village units.
Domestic outbuildings: examples include sleepouts (not fully self-contained), carports,
garages, and garden sheds on residential sections.
Earthquake-related building consents in Canterbury: are building consents issued in the
Canterbury region and identified (primarily by the issuing authorities) as being earthquakerelated.
Not all earthquake-related consents can be identified. For example, if a new house (to replace a
damaged house) is built at a different site, the new house might not be identified as being
earthquake-related.
Note: excludes seismic strengthening work and demolitions.
Education buildings: examples include pre-schools, schools, polytechnics, and university
buildings.
Factories and industrial buildings: examples include sawmills, freezing works, workshops, and
hangars.
Farm buildings: examples include milking sheds, hay barns, implement sheds, and fattening
units.
Hospitals, nursing homes, and other health buildings: examples include retirement villages
(excluding units), and medical laboratories.

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 Hostels, boarding houses, and prisons: examples include children's homes and workers’
quarters.
Houses: are houses not attached to other houses.
Non-building construction: is work that requires a building consent, but is not a building. For
example, retaining walls, roads, bridges, signs, and wharves. Many civil engineering works
require a resource consent but not a building consent, so are excluded.
Non-residential buildings: includes new construction, alterations, and additions to commercial,
industrial, and other non-residential buildings such as schools, hospitals, libraries, and farm
buildings.
Note: hostels, rest homes, and serviced apartments are classified as non-residential buildings.
Office, administration, and public transport buildings: examples include police stations,
postal centres, banks, and railway stations.
Residential buildings: includes new construction, alterations, and additions to dwellings and
domestic outbuildings.
Retirement village units: are villas, townhouses, apartments, or other dwellings within a
retirement village, including those owned through a license-to-occupy. Excludes care
apartments.
Shops, restaurants, and bars: examples include cafés, retail outlets, and service stations.
Social, cultural, and religious buildings: examples include sports facilities, museums,
libraries, cinemas, and funeral parlours.
Storage buildings: examples include warehouses, cool stores, wharf sheds, and parking
buildings.
Territorial authorities: are defined under the Local Government Act 2002 and related
amendments. There are 67 territorial authorities – Auckland Council, 12 city councils, 53 district
councils, and Chatham Islands Council.
Townhouses, flats, units, and other dwellings: examples include granny flats, and minor
dwellings such as studios.

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 Related links
Next release
Building Consents Issued: February 2016 will be released on 30 March 2016.
Subscribe to information releases, including this one, by completing the online subscription form.
The release calendar lists all information releases by date of release.

Past releases
Building Consents Issued has links to past releases.

Related information
Earthquake-related building consents in Canterbury summarises Canterbury consents identified
as earthquake-related. This table is updated monthly.
Value of building work put in place statistics estimate the actual dollar value of work put in place
on construction jobs within New Zealand (quarterly). It includes information by building type, and
deflated values.

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 Data quality
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Data source
Survey errors
Coverage
Interpreting the data
More information

Data source
We obtain data for building consents from all accredited building consent authorities (ie territorial
authorities) each month. We compile information from building consents issued each month if:
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they are valued at $5,000 or more
they are not predominantly for demolition work.

Survey errors
Sample errors
Because the survey has 100 percent coverage of the target population, there is no sample error.
Non-sample errors
These errors can occur when there is incomplete or incorrect information on consent forms, or
when information is incorrectly delivered, interpreted, or classified. While we make much effort to
minimise these errors, they will still occur, and we cannot quantify their effect.
From March 2015, we use an automated process to classify building consents where possible.
We then check higher value and unusual consents to validate the data. This can result in errors
that are not significant at the national level. Previously, we manually coded each building
consent.
See Implementing classification and other changes to building consent statistics for more details.

Coverage
Scope
We only include construction work that requires a building consent in these statistics. Some civil
engineering works, such as roads, require resource consents but not building consents, so are
excluded.
The Building Act 2004 determines the scope of work requiring a building consent. Its main parts
came into force in 2005, replacing the Building Act 2001. The new Act introduced measures to
provide greater assurances to consumers, such as registration of building consent authorities,
and the licensing of building practitioners. The Act was reviewed in 2009. The review broadened
the scope of work that may proceed without a building consent.
See Schedule 1 exemptions for changes to the Building Act 2004, on the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment's website, effective from 23 December 2010.

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 The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority has legislative powers to undertake work without
a building consent. For example, demolition work and temporary repairs.
We exclude consents that are predominantly for demolition work, and consents valued below
$5,000.
Changes in coverage
The building consents included in this release have changed over time. The list below highlights
the key changes.
1996 From June 1996, we code consent values for multi-purpose buildings to one or more of the
most appropriate building types. Before this date, we classified multi-purpose buildings
separately.
1993 From January 1993, building authorisations have been applied for under the building
consents system administered by territorial authorities. Before this date, applications were made
under the building permits system. The building consents system has wider coverage than the
building permits system. The additional coverage includes some government building
(particularly work on education buildings), and on-site drainage and reticulation work.
1989 From September 1989, we exclude consents below $5,000.
Boundary changes
2011 From 1 November 2010, part of the former Franklin district moved from the Auckland
region to the Waikato region. We include this change in building consents data from January
2011.
2010 On 1 November 2010, the new Auckland Council came into being from seven former cities
and districts. Before November 2010, the Auckland region can be used to approximate the new
Auckland Council.
Seasonally adjusted series
Seasonal adjustment removes the estimated effect of regular seasonal events, such as summer
holidays and pre-Christmas purchasing, from statistical series. This makes figures for adjacent
periods more comparable.
The seasonally adjusted series are re-estimated monthly when each new month’s data becomes
available. Figures are therefore subject to revision, with the largest changes normally occurring
in the latest months.
We use the X-13 ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment program, developed at the U.S. Census
Bureau, to produce the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates.
Trend estimates
Trend estimation removes the estimated effect of regular seasonal events and irregular shortterm variation from statistical series. This reveals turning points and the underlying direction of
movement over time.

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 The trend series are re-estimated monthly when each new month’s data becomes available.
Figures are therefore subject to revision, with the largest changes normally occurring in the latest
months. Revisions can be large if values are initially treated as outliers but are later found to be
part of the underlying trend.
We use the X-13 ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment program to produce the seasonally
adjusted and trend estimates. Irregular short-term variation is removed by smoothing the
seasonally adjusted series using optimal weighted moving averages.
To reduce distortions, we estimate the monthly trend series for the value of non-residential
buildings after removing consent values of $25 million or more between January 1990 and
December 2005, and of $50 million or more from January 2006. However, non-residential
building consent values are still volatile with no stable seasonal pattern, and therefore a stable
trend for this series is slow to emerge.
Seasonal adjustment in Statistics New Zealand has more information.

Interpreting the data
Values for new buildings include conversion costs. For example, if a hotel is converted to
apartments, we treat them as new dwellings in the statistics. Consent values for new buildings
sometimes include the cost of demolishing or removing the previous buildings.
Some consents, particularly for large projects, are issued in stages across more than one month.
We collect value data at each stage but floor areas and dwelling or building counts are normally
recorded at the first large stage of the project. This difference in timing can affect calculations of
average prices.
Care should be taken in using building consents data for individual building types at small
geographic areas, as it may contain errors and omissions that are not significant at the national
level. We may not have detected these errors during our editing processes.
Trading day adjustments
An aim of time series analysis is to identify movements that are due to actual changes. Seasonal
adjustment is done to remove systematic calendar-related variation. Specific adjustments can be
made to remove variations due to trading day differences, which are not accounted for in a
standard seasonal adjustment.
Some of the apparent movement in building consent figures is due to trading day differences
between months. For example, a month with four weekends has more trading or working days
than a comparable month with five weekends. This can affect monthly figures, even though there
may be no difference in the length of the month or difference in the rate at which consents are
issued.
We quantify and remove trading day effects when they are estimated to be statistically
significant. We don't remove the effect of moving holidays such as Easter.
Trend estimates versus month-on-month comparisons
Trend estimates reveal the underlying direction of movement in statistical series. In contrast,
comparisons of unadjusted data between one month and the same month in the previous year/s
do not take account of data recorded for the intervening months, and are subject to one-off

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 fluctuations. Reasons for fluctuations include changes in legislation, economic variables such as
interest rates, and trading day composition of months.

More information
See more information about Building Consents Issued
Statistics in this release have been produced in accordance with the Official Statistics System
principles and protocols for producers of Tier 1 statistics for quality. They conform to the
Statistics NZ Methodological Standard for Reporting of Data Quality.

Liability
While all care and diligence has been used in processing, analysing, and extracting data and
information in this publication, Statistics NZ gives no warranty it is error-free and will not be liable
for any loss or damage suffered by the use directly, or indirectly, of the information in this
publication.

Timing
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 Contacts
For media enquiries contact:
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Email: info@stats.govt.nz
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 Tables
See the following Excel tables in the 'Downloads' box on this page. If you have problems viewing
the files, see opening files and PDFs.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Building consents issued – January
Number of new dwellings consented
Number and value of new dwellings consented, by region
Number of new dwellings consented, trend for selected regions
Number of new dwellings consented, by selected territorial authority and Auckland wards
Value of building consents issued, actual and trend values

Machine-readable zipped csv files
Machine-readable zipped csv files are also available. This is a way for technical users to
download our data.

Access more data on Infoshare
Infoshare allows you to organise data in the way that best meets your needs. You can view the
resulting tables onscreen or download them.
Use Infoshare
For this release, select the following category from the Infoshare homepage:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Building Consents - BLD

Next release
Building Consents Issued: February 2016 will be released on 30 March 2016.

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