Fresh figures shed light on construction trends

This Stats NZ analysis brings together several datasets to provide insights into the recent performance of New Zealand’s construction industry

The construction industry comprises residential and non-residential construction. Non-residential buildings include hospitals, factories, prisons and hotels. The industry also includes heavy and civil engineering construction, and construction services like painting, plumbing and electrical work, site preparation and landscaping*.

In the year ended March 2024, the construction industry had a 7.8% share of gross domestic product (GDP).

“New Zealand’s construction industry is a large and varied sector of the economy. Its share of GDP was the fourth highest out of 16 industries,” general manager and macroeconomic spokesperson Jason Attewell said.

In the December 2025 quarter, there were 295,100 people, or 10.2% of employed people in New Zealand, working in the construction industry as their main job, according to Labour market statistics: December 2025 quarter

The industry is heavily male dominated. In the December 2025 quarter, 83.3% of people who worked in the construction industry as their main job were men.

A high proportion of New Zealand’s business owners work in construction. In the December 2025 quarter, around 1 in 5 of all employers, and 1 in 6 of all people who were self-employed with no employees, were in the construction industry.

At February 2025, NZ business demography statistics showed there were 81,249 enterprises in the construction industry, or 13.2% of all enterprises in New Zealand.

The construction industry also plays an important role in other industries, including manufacturing.

“The manufacturing industry produces many of the materials used in construction, including metal products like steel and aluminium framing, and non-metallic mineral products like glass, plaster and cement,” Attewell said.

Stats NZ produces several datasets that provide a window into the construction industry and its performance. Here, we look at some of the latest construction-related releases and what they’re telling us.

Building consents suggest growing pipeline of residential building work

Building consents rose 9% in 2025 to 36,619 new homes, with growth driven mainly by multi-unit housing, which continues to outpace stand-alone homes. Auckland led activity with over 40% of consents, while overall building intensity and total floor area also increased.

The upward trend is continuing into 2026, signalling ongoing strength in future construction activity. See New home consents rise in January for more information.

Building activity down despite increases in South Island

The Value of building work report put in place measures the value and volume of work completed.

In the December 2025 quarter, the volume of building activity in New Zealand dropped 3.1%compared with the September 2025 quarter. Residential building work was down 1.1% and non-residential building work was down 6.5%.

These figures have been adjusted to remove the effects of price changes and typical seasonal patterns.

“Residential building work has levelled out in recent quarters, while the volume of non-building residential activity continues to trend lower,” Attewell said.

In the year ended December 2025, the value of building work put in place was $31bn, down 7.2% from the year ended December 2024.

The value of residential building work was $19bn (-6.7%) and the value of non-residential building work was $12bn (-8.1%).

“Although the value of building work carried out fell in 2025, the increase in home consents indicates that more projects are being planned. This could lead to an uplift in future building activity,” Attewell said.

At the regional level, the actual value of total building work in the December 2025 quarter compared with the December 2024 quarter, was:

• $3.1bn in Auckland (-2.5%).
• $646m in Waikato (-5.3%).
• $585m in Wellington (-9.8%).
• $1.2bn in the rest of the North Island (-13.3%).
• $1.3bn in Canterbury (+4%).
• $941m in the rest of the South Island (+2.6%).

“Overall, we’ve seen the value of building work in the South Island hold up relatively well compared with the North Island,” Attewell said.

“This is also being seen in ready-mixed concrete statistics. The volume of ready-mixed concrete produced in the South Island increased 11% in the December 2025 quarter compared with the same quarter last year, while it decreased 3.0% in the North Island.”

Volume of ready-mixed concrete turns positive in December quarter

Ready-mixed concrete statistics provide an early indicator of construction activity.

In the December 2025 quarter, the actual volume of ready-mixed concrete produced was 971,383 m³ up 0.4% compared with the December 2024 quarter.

This was the first increase in the volume of ready-mixed concrete produced compared with the same quarter in the previous year since the 20.3% rise in the September 2022 quarter.

“Enough ready-mixed concrete was produced in the December 2025 quarter to build around 65 Sky Towers,” Attewell said.

In the year ended December 2025, 3.64m cubic metres of ready-mixed concrete were produced, down 4.6% compared with the year ended December 2024.

Construction sales up annually, salaries and wages down

Business financial data provides sales, purchases, salaries and wages, and operating profit estimates for most market industries in New Zealand. Business employment data includes filled jobs and gross earnings.

Sales in the construction industry were $24bn in the December 2025 quarter, up 1.3% compared with the December 2024 quarter.

“The December 2025 quarter is the first time in almost two years that we have recorded annual growth in construction industry sales,” Attewell said.

Only wholesale trade ($43bn), manufacturing ($37bn), and retail trade and accommodation ($34bn) recorded more sales in the December 2025 quarter than the December 2024 quarter.

Construction industry sales accounted for 11.3% of all measured industries’ sales in the December 2025 quarter, down 0.5%compared with the December 2024 quarter.

Several manufacturing sectors produce products used in the construction industry.

In seasonally adjusted terms, metal product manufacturing sales were up 2.7% to $3.5bn in the December 2025 quarter, compared with the September 2025 quarter. Metal product manufacturing includes products like steel and aluminium framing.

Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing sales were up 2.5% to $1bn in the December 2025 quarter, compared with the September 2025 quarter. Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing includes products like glass, plaster and cement.

Salaries and wages in the construction industry were $4.4bn in the December 2025 quarter, down 2.4% compared with the December 2024 quarter.

“The construction industry accounted for 13.1% of all industry salaries and wages in the December 2025 quarter,” Attewell said.

Filled jobs in the construction industry were down 0.2% in the December 2025 quarter compared with the September 2025 quarter, after removing seasonal effects.

In the December 2025 quarter compared with the December 2024 quarter, filled jobs in the construction industry were down 3.6%.

“In Auckland, filled jobs in construction were down 3,936 compared with the December 2024 quarter, the largest fall of any region. This accounted for around 60% of the fall in filled jobs in construction nationally,” Attewell said.

“Around 87% of the fall in filled jobs in construction was from men.”

Construction prices up, but slower than prices in all industries

The producers price index (PPI) provides information about the prices received by producers (outputs) and prices paid by producers (inputs). Outputs include completed residential and non-residential buildings. Inputs include construction services, and goods and materials.

The output PPI for the construction industry increased 1.8% in the 12 months to the December 2025 quarter. The input PPI increased 2.1% in the same period.

“Between the March 2022 and March 2024 quarters, annual construction output and input prices rose at a faster rate than output and input prices for all industries,” Attewell said.

“Since the June 2024 quarter, output and input prices for the construction industry have moderated relative to output and input prices across all industries.”

Consumers price index: December 2025 quarter reported that annual consumer inflation was 3.1%in the year ended December 2025. The cost of building a new home increased 1.2%in the same period.

*See National accounts (industry production and investment): Year ended March 2024 for more information on the structure of the economy.