Business | Banking
June home-building approvals fall 9.5%
New Zealand's home-building approvals fell for the first time in three months in June, signalling that lower mortgage rates are yet to kick start sustained demand for property.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 22:31 July 30, 2009
Wellington: New Zealand's home-building approvals fell for the first time in three months in June, signalling that lower mortgage rates are yet to kick start sustained demand for property.
Permits declined 9.5 per cent from May, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington on Thursday, citing seasonally adjusted figures.
Second-quarter approvals rose 16 per cent from the first quarter and the trend in approvals is rising by about 2 per cent a month, the agency said.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard cut the benchmark interest rate to a record-low 2.5 per cent in April and will probably leave the rate unchanged at his review to help the economy recover from its worst recession in more than three decades.
Economists expect building approvals to keep pacing gains in house sales and prices and eventually lead the economy out of recession.
Home sales rose 40 per cent in June from a year earlier, the Real Estate Institute reported earlier this month.
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