2017.01.1818:46:00UTC+00New Zealand Building Permits Slide In November

The total number of building permits in New Zealand issued in November fell a seasonally adjusted 9.2 percent on month in November, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday - standing at 2,973.

That followed the 2.0 percent increase in October, and it marked the most for any month since March 2005, when 3,027 new homes were consented.

Individually, permits were issued for 1,886 houses, 507 townhouses, flats, and units, 375 apartments and 205 retirement village units.

"Almost 40 percent of the new homes consented were in Auckland," business indicators manager Melissa McKenzie said. "The Waitemata and Gulf, Albert-Eden-Roskill, and Manukau wards had the biggest increases in the Auckland region."

By region, permits were issued in Auckland (1,156), Canterbury (459) and Waikato (340).

On a yearly basis, building permits surged 13.0 percent.

In Auckland, 10,137 new homes were consented over the year - an increase of 13 percent.

In Canterbury, where the Christchurch earthquake residential rebuild is slowly winding down, 6,054 new homes were consented, down 9.1 percent from November 2015.

The value of building work consented was NZ$1.6 billion.