KEY POINTS:
The value of residential building work put in place slipped in the December quarter, while non-residential work rose strongly.
Figures published by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today put the value of all building work up 3.9 per cent in the December quarter, after price changes and seasonal fluctuations were removed. That followed a 2.3 per cent rise in the September quarter.
The value of residential building work dropped 1.5 per cent, following a 4.4 per cent rise in the September quarter, while the value of non-residential work rose 13 per cent, after a 1.1 per cent fall the previous quarter.
The unadjusted value for residential building work put in place rose 12 per cent to $2.29 billion in the latest quarter compared to the December 2006 quarter, SNZ said.
For non-residential buildings the December 2007 quarter value was $1.37b, up 10 per cent from a year earlier. Commercial buildings were the main contributor to the increase.
For the whole year, the unadjusted value of residential work put in place rose 12 per cent to $8.53b, while that for non-residential work was down 1.3 per cent to $5.03b.
Trend values for price-adjusted residential building work showed rises for the past six quarters, after falls in the first half of 2006, SNZ said.
For non-residential work, trend values showed increases for the two latest quarters, following a general decline from a March 2006 quarter high-point.
- NZPA
