NEW ZEALAND'S HOME BUILDING APPROVALS INCREASE 3.3 PER CENT

       Home-building approvals in New Zealand rose for the fifth time in six months in September, signalling lower mortgage rates are helping to kick-start demand for property.
       Permits increased 3.3 per cent from August, Statistics New Zealand said, citing seasonally adjusted fugures. Excluding apartments, approvals rose 2.8 per cent to a 13-month high.
       Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said he was unlikely to raise borrowing costs from a record low until the second half of next year, to help the economy emerge from its worst recession in three decades. There are signs the economy is growing again.
       "The pace of increases is not substantial but is in line with what would be expected given the increase in house sales, low interest rates and improvement in net migration," said ANZ National Bank economist Philip Borkin.
       Economists monitor approvals excluding apartments because apartment consents are volatile. There were 155 apartment approvals in September, up from 30 in August and down from 366 in September 2008.
       Excluding apartments, approvals in the third quarter increased 31 per cent quarter on quarter. Economists expect building approvals to keep pacing gains in house sales, property prices and immigration.
       Home sales rose 44 per cent year on year in September, the Real Estate Institute reported. House prices increased 1.9 per cent from August. The number of permanent migrant arrivals exceeded departures by 17,043 in the year ending September 30, the most since 2004, the government said last week.
       "With house sales still rising, further consent increases are likely over the next six months, and this should see residential construction make some reasonable contributions to growth over 2010," Borkin said.
       Property construction has slump year on year because of the recession, which began in last year's first quarter, and as a credit crisis curbed development projects. In the 12 months ending September 30, approvals fell 35 per cent.
       The value of approvals for home building and renovations declined 14 per cent in September from a year earlier to 480 million New Zealand dollars (Bt11.56 billion), the agency said.