Non-residential building consents
Civic buildings push consents to record high
30 May 2019
Our take on the latest Non-residential building consents (Thu 30 May 2019)
Value of non-res consents
$919m
In April 2019
Social, cultural, and religious consents totalled $314m
Canterbury consents up $206m from April 2018
The key numbers...
- April’s massive result represents over half our total forecast of non-residential consents for the June quarter.
- May is typically one of the strongest months for consents during the year, so total consents for the June quarter are set to be much higher than our forecast of $1.82b.
- Much of April’s very strong result was underpinned by public sector projects, and more modest growth in private sector work is consistent with weak investment intentions and doubts about future economic growth.
- Nevertheless, the continuing pipeline of new non-residential projects coming to market will maintain the spotlight on the industry’s capacity over the next year at least.
Value of consents granted
Year-end % changes
...and our reaction
- The $919m of non-residential building consents issued in April was boosted by a $195m consent for Christchurch’s Metro Sports Facility, as well as an $83m consent for seismic strengthening of Wellington’s Town Hall (neither consent is likely to represent the full value of each project).
- After adjusting for building cost inflation and normal seasonal variation, April’s consent total represented the highest monthly volume of consents ever, comfortably beating last November’s result.
- The two projects mentioned above meant that the volume of social, cultural, and religious consents was also at a record high in April, surpassing April 1998, when Wellington’s Westpac Stadium was consented.
- Auckland also made a significant positive contribution to consents in April, with more storage building in North Shore and Manurewa-Papakura and office building consents increasing in Waitematā and Gulf and Manukau.
- A $26m consent as part of the redevelopment of Wakefield Hospital in Wellington contributed to a lift in hospital building.
Latest updates
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Non-residential building consents
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