Building industry slump continues

The slump in the construction industry continued in the March quarter, new figures show.

While the decline in the residential sector slowed sharply, non-residential activity turned negative after two positive quarters.

The seasonally adjusted volume of all building work put in place fell 0.7 per cent in the three months to March, the fifth consecutive quarterly fall.

Publishing the data today, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said the seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work fell 0.4 per cent in the March quarter, and was the lowest recorded for seven years.

The decrease in residential work followed a 12.3 per cent fall in the December quarter, and was the sixth consecutive residential quarterly decline, with the volume now 32 per cent lower than in the September 2007 quarter.

The seasonally adjusted value of residential building work, in current prices, fell 0.3 per cent in the March quarter.

For the March year, the value of residential building work put in place was $6.85 billion, down 20.6 per cent from the previous March year. Of the total, new dwellings fell $1.73b or 24 per cent.

The volume of non-residential building work fell a seasonally adjusted 1 per cent in the March quarter, following increases in the previous two quarters.

For the year the unadjusted value of non-residential building work put in place was $5.29b, up $263 million or 5.2 per cent from the previous year, SNZ said.

The total was boosted by work on sports stadiums and justice system buildings.

For all building work put in place in the March year, the unadjusted value was $12.13b, down 11.1 per cent from the previous year.

Residential buildings accounted for 56.4 per cent of that value, down from 63.2 per cent in the March 2008 year, while in the previous 10 March years the percentage had ranged from 56.3 per cent to 65.9 per cent.

- NZPA