Building activity up in regions

The value of residential building work hit a record high in Auckland for the September quarter

Statistics New Zealand’s ‘Value of Building Work Put in Place’ report shows that, after price changes and seasonal variations were removed, the volume of all building activity rose 0.5% in the September quarter, following a 1.6% increase in the June quarter.

The volume of residential building activity rose 2.9%, while non-residential fell by 2.6%. The trend for all building work grew 1%, to sit just 0.8% higher than the previous series high in the June 2005 quarter.

At current prices, the actual value of all building work was $4.2 billion (up 2%), comprised of $2.6 billion residential and $1.6 billion non-residential. Seasonally adjusted, the value of residential building work increased by 4.2% nationally.

The value of non-residential building work fell a seasonally adjusted 1.6%, following a 5.5% rise in the June 2015 quarter. Following three consecutive quarters of decline, it rose by 3.1% in Auckland.

In the regions

Auckland ($1.4bn) and Canterbury ($1.1bn) contributed 60% of the $4.2 billion building activity recorded in total. The vast majority of work in Auckland came from the residential sector, with $943 million worth in the September quarter – the highest ever recorded in the region.

At current prices, all regions except Wellington (-8.2%) recorded seasonally adjusted increases in the value of building work compared to the September 2014 quarter. Waikato (+11%) and Auckland (+4%) recorded the two largest increases.

Value grew slower in Canterbury, increasing by 0.1% compared with 2.1% in the rest of the country. Non-residential was the exception, seasonally adjusted it was down 0.5% in Canterbury, compared to a 3.1% decrease in the rest of the country.