Residential building consents back at pre-covid levels

Residential building consents back at pre-covid levels
Staff reporters
Seasonally adjusted residential building consents rose 36 percent in May, bouncing back from a 9.9 percent decline in April, Stats NZ said.There were 3,554 new homes consented in May, up from 2,168 in April, and more than the monthly average through the second half of 2019.“Impressively, house building demand has, so far, not been dented by covid-19,” said ASB Bank economist Jane Turner.She expects consents to hold up in June as councils work through the backlog in applications, although the recovery will likely be short-lived with...