New Zealand home building consents hit 6-year high

 Consents for building new homes reached a six-year high in the year to the end of September, but the figures were showing signs of slowing, the government statistics agency announced Friday.
The number of building consents issued across the country rose 22 percent to 24,046 in the September year, but the 1,985 new home consents in the month of September was down 12 percent year on year, according to Statistics New Zealand.
"The trend for new dwellings was previously at its highest level since August 2007. While it's now easing, the trend is still about 10 percent higher than at the same time last year," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
Almost 1.3 billion NZ dollars (1.01 billion U.S. dollars) of building work was consented in September, including 778 million NZ dollars (608.86 million U.S. dollars) of residential work.
Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said the strong annual growth figures showed progress in addressing the country's housing supply and affordability problems, particularly in the two most populous cities of Auckland and Christchurch.
The rate of building consents in Auckland was at an eight-year high, and up 30 percent year on year, while the figure in Christchurch was at up 97 percent to an all-time 12-month record, Smith said in a statement.
On Thursday, a report from the government's New Zealand Building and Construction Productivity Partnership said the value of all building and construction was forecast to reach unprecedented levels over the next three years, with a sustained rate of growth that had not been seen in 40 years.
The report anticipated building activity to rise by at least 10 percent every year to 2017, totaling a construction boom worth 100 billion NZ dollars (78.24 billion U.S. dollars) over the next three years.