Canterbury is continuing to dive when it comes to the number of residential building permits being issued.

Figures released yesterday show just over two-and-a-half thousand consents were issued nationwide in October, up more than 2.5 percent on the same time a year ago.

Canterbury is bucking that trend, with consent numbers down more than 20 percent compared to October last year.

Business Indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said the slow-down is largely due to the wind-up of the residential re-build.

"Building consents in Christchurch basically peaked in late 2014 and they've flattened and declined since then" he said.

However, the rest of the South Island has seen an increase of more than 3.5 percent in the same period, well above the national average of 2.5 percent.

Statistics New Zealand's Business Indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said there could be a number of reasons for the increase.

He said there's been reasonably strong growth across most of the South Island, despite lower base figures.