Residential building volume falls 40 percent in two years

The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work put in place has fallen by almost 40 percent since the most recent peak two years ago, Statistics New Zealand said today. The volume of residential building work put in place fell a further 5.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter, and is at its lowest level recorded in eight years.

Recent Statistics NZ building consents releases have reported increases in the number of new housing consents issued. These increases are not reflected in an increase in work put in place for the September 2009 quarter, but indicate an intention to build.

The seasonally adjusted volume of all building work put in place fell 4.9 percent in the September 2009 quarter, the seventh successive quarterly fall. These quarterly falls were mainly driven by falls in the volume of residential building, except for the September 2009 quarter, when non-residential building work fell by a similar amount to residential buildings.

For the September 2009 year, the unadjusted value of all building work put in place was $11,106 million, down 15.9 percent from the previous year. The unadjusted value of total residential building work put in place fell 25.7 percent in the September 2009 year, driven by a fall in new dwellings. Hospitals and nursing homes was the largest contributor to the 0.8 percent fall in non-residential building work put in place for the September 2009 year.

Geoff Bascand 8 December 2009

Government Statistician