Official figures have confirmed that building consents, excluding those obtained for apartments, managed to rise rapidly during the month of November to hit an 18-month high, as the painful decline witnessed by the housing sector during the global recession continued to recover.

Released on Thursday, numbers from Statistics New Zealand revealed that 1458 dwellings were awarded authorization in November, which did not include apartments, which has been the highest number recorded since May 2008.

As only 42 approvals were awarded to apartments, overall, the number of consents given has been the highest since September 2008.

Seasonally adjusted, SNZ said, the number of new buildings authorized in November, apart from apartments, hiked by 3.1%, after rising by 11% during the month of October.

The strongest growth in residential units was displayed by Canterbury, Wellington and Hawke's Bay.

Despite a rise in consents received, the activity in the housing market has managed to remain considerably lower than the levels seen before mid-2007", business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said.