West Coast New Zealand

• Develoment planning
• Non-residential building consents
• Resource consents
• Housing
• New Dwelling consents

Development planning

Non-residential building and resource consents are a good indicator of economic activity in a region, especially from a business growth perspective.  Table 6.1 presents a set of indicators of development on the West Coast for the last two years.

Table 6.1 summary development indicators

The number of non-residential building consents issued on the West Coast fell, while the value of consents issued rose in the latest year.  Resource consent applications surged as five-yearly whitebait consents were renewed.

Non residential building consents

A total of 187 non-residential building consents for new buildings were issued on the West Coast in the year to December 2007, valued at $36 million.  This was a 7.0 percent decrease in the number of permits and a 10 percent increase in the value of permits. 

Figure 6.1 and Figure 6.2 show the relative change in numbers and value of consents respectively of new non-residential consents in the West Coast region compared to New Zealand over the last several years.

Figure 6.1 change in number of new non-residential consents

The number and value of non-residential consents are particularly prone to fluctuation, as the figures show.  Numbers rose in five of the last ten years and declined in the other five years although overall, the trend is clearly upward.

Figure 6.2 change in value of new non-residential consents

There was a dramatic increase in the value of new non-residential permits in 2001 and, after falling back slightly in 2002 and 2003, total value moved past the $30 million level for the first time in 2006.  Values continued to build in the latest year, reaching $36 million.  This equates to an increase of more than 500 percent in 15 years.

Resource consents

The number of resource consent applications can also indicate activity in a region.  Figure 6.3 shows the number of resource consent applied for and granted in the West Coast region.

Figure 6.3 resource consents

The latest year to June 2007, was, like 2002, a year of whitebait resource consent renewals.  The result was an unusually high number of resource consent applications, up 128 percent over 2006 figures.  Due to the whitebait consents, it is difficult to tell whether consent numbers are trending up or down.  Looking over the last few years, however, there does seem a general trend down from 2003.

Housing

This section looks at a number of housing indicators, which also give an idea of general economic confidence in the region.  Table 9.1 summarises a range of housing activity indicators.

Table 9.1 housing summary indicators

All indicators other than the number of house sales have improved in the latest year, and the West Coast has performed better than New Zealand across all indicators for which national data is available.

New Dwelling Consents

New dwelling consents provide a further measure of confidence as developers and private individuals build where they see potential for growth.   

Figure 9.5 shows the change in numbers of building consents for new dwellings on the West Coast and in all of New Zealand since 1991.

Figure 9.5 change in number of new dwelling consents

The number of new dwelling consents issued on the West Coast has increased consistently since 1998.  Even as total consents issued in New Zealand dipped into negative territory over the years from 2005 to 2007, West Coast consents increased year-on-year.  The year-on-year percentage increases in consents issued in the region have been above those of New Zealand since 2003.

The value of new dwelling consents issued on the West Coast has also risen strongly over the last several years, as shown in Figure 9.6. 

Figure 9.6 value of new residential building consents

The value of new residential consents rose from $7.34 million in 1998, to $56.9 million in 2007, an increase of 676 percent.  The graph shows rapidly-falling consent values from 1993 to 1998 being reversed in the following years.  Values increased by up to 58 percent year-on-year between 2000 and 2007. 

Source: BERL 2007