Residential building trends up

The volume of residential building activity has increased 7.4 percent in the December 2009 quarter, after removing seasonal effects, Statistics New Zealand said today. In contrast, the volume of non-residential building activity fell 6.1 percent, the third consecutive quarterly fall.

The trend for the volume of residential building activity increased in the latest quarter. "To put this increase in context, the trend had been declining for two years and the level is still about a third lower than the most recent peak in September 2007," business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said. The trend for non-residential building activity has declined throughout 2009, down 13.2 percent over the year.

For the December 2009 year, the unadjusted value of all building activity was $10,823 million, down 13.7 percent from the previous year. The unadjusted value of total residential building activity fell 19.8 percent in the December 2009 year, driven by a fall in new dwellings. Hospitals and nursing homes were the largest contributors to the 5.2 percent fall in non-residential building activity for the December 2009 year.

Data on building activity is obtained each quarter by postal survey of around 3,500 builders, owners, and other building consent applicants.

Geoff Bascand 8 March 2010

Government Statistician