A slowdown from the first half of the year is expected when economic growth figures for the September quarter come out on Thursday.
The median pick among nine private sector forecasters polled by Reuters is for a 0.5 per cent increase in gross domestic product, which would make 2.3 per cent for the year but represent a deceleration from the average 0.8 per cent in the March and June quarters. The Reserve Bank's forecast is 0.2 per cent.
ASB economists, whose forecast of 0.6 per cent is at the high end of the range, emphasise the surge in construction activity and its spillover to other sectors like manufacturing.
Westpac economists, by contrast, are picking zero growth overall because of pervasive weakness in services, which make up around 60 per cent of economic activity.
ASB estimates residential construction in Canterbury rose 26 per cent in the quarter, on top of a 28 per cent rise in the June quarter.