The number of consents that had been issued for new homes fell by 9.5 % during the month of May, following a 13.4% increase during April, Statistics New Zealand says.

When the unpredictable apartment category is included, consents for new houses fell by 9.6 %, following an 8.4%increase in the previous month.

Business Statistics Manager, Louise Holmes-Oliver said that the improved unpredictability of the stats was a reflection of short-term behavior.

“If the financial system was tracking along well, we would not imagine seeing that quantity of variation in the consequences, but since we are coming out of a stumpy point in the wealth, that difference is a normal characteristic”, she said.

The long-term tendency for numbers of building consents has been on the rise, ever since March 2009, though the plane is still 30% on the inferior side than the June 2007 climax.

During May, housing building consents were issued for 1333 houses and 27 new apartment units, in contrast to May last year, when just 963 consents were issued for new homes.

ANZ Economist, Mark Smith said that a material surprise of building consents was improbable, until later parts of the year, as net migration relieved and the house market continued to be supple.