The latest building consent figures indicate continued stability in the construction sector, according to Registered Master Builders Federation chief executive Pieter Burghout.
Building consents were issued for 2092 units for February 2007, 162 fewer than in February last year. There were 229 apartment units authorised this February, 311 fewer than for February 2006.
“The building industry continues to remain steady as you go. The number of residential building consents in February was only 162 fewer than for February last year, which is not a huge drop,” Mr Burghout says.
“The Registered Master Builders Federation is not concerned with a decrease of this magnitude, as it has been expected for some time that the consent numbers would slowly decline through 2007.”
He says it was significant that despite the small decline in the number of consents, the value of residential building consents was $597 million, a rise of 6% on February 2006.
“At nearly $600 million, the value of consents remains high, which reflects the fact that the quality end of the market is staying the strongest, which is the part of the market RMBF members generally tend to work in.”
Mr Burghout says the 5% drop in the value of commercial building consents “is a bit higher than was probably expected, but we expect this part of the market to hold going forward”.
