New Zealand July building consents partly reverse previous month's surge, strengthening trend intact

New Zealand building consents took a breather in July following a surge in the previous month, but remained on a strengthening trend. Data released by Statistics New Zealand earlier on Tuesday showed that New Zealand residential building consents fell 11 percent in July, partly reversing a spike higher in June due to applications for retirement villages and multi-unit dwellings.

Data showed seasonally adjusted dwelling consents slipped to 2,629 in July from 2,938 in June, when they spiked 22 percent. On an annual basis, dwelling consents rose 13 percent to 29,084, marking the highest level for a July year since 2004.

Details of the report showed the value of building consents rose 15 percent to $1.65 billion in July from the year-earlier month, as residential consents increased 5.8 percent to $1.03 billion, while non-residential consents jumped 35 percent to $614 million.

"Although the trend is gathering pace, headwinds are strengthening in the form of capacity and credit constraints. It would be too simplistic to assume “onwards and upwards” uninterrupted from here," notes ANZ Research in a report.