The value of building consents issued in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty softened markedly last month.

Following an outstanding month for Tauranga City Council in May, with the second highest value of consents ever recorded at $113 million, activity slowed considerably during June, according to Priority One.

However, consents can fluctuate considerably month to month and sometimes a drop like that of last month can be attributed more to an idiosyncrasy of the administrative or consent processing than a new trend.

The value of consents issued by Tauranga City Council in June was $59 million – almost half that of May. This included a downturn for new residential developments, commercial consents and community consents. However, overall Tauranga has still issued 12 per cent more by value of consents than at the same time last year.

Western Bay District Council also had a quiet June, issuing a lower value of consents over most categories.

However, commercial consents issued were higher than both May 2018 and June 2017 at $2.5 million.

Western Bay is currently tracking at just over three percent less than at the same time last year. However the value of consents issued for the combined sub-region was 8.5 percent higher than for the first six months of last year.