Housing consents rose 1.5 percent in April, but only because of a surge in consents to build apartments.
However, an economist says the swag of holidays in April meant consents for the month were always likely to be weak.
Of the 2,082 new dwellings actually consented, 432 were apartments.
That is up from the 186 apartments which were approved in March and the 214 approved in April last year.
Excluding apartments, consents to build new houses fell 5.2 percent in April in seasonally adjusted terms.
The 1650 consents for houses are down from the 1,813 approved in March but a slight increase on March last year.
Still, the government statistician says the trend for consents is now at its highest level since September 2007 and has doubled since its low point in March 2011.
