The latest building consent numbers are down for housing but up for offices and administrative buildings.
Statistics NZ said yesterday that 1977 new dwelling unit consents were issued in May, down 22 per cent on the same month last year.
The total value of the consents was $873 million, with approvals given for $536 million of residential work $50 million lower.
Approvals for apartments have dropped sharply - from 10 per cent of all approvals last May to 6 per cent. Consents were issued for 111 new apartments in May, compared with 154 in April.
But work on non-residential building was up $93 million on a year ago at $337 million, with the largest contributor being consents for office and administrative buildings - worth $72 million.
ANZ Bank said the latest data showed building work had peaked early last year.
"Non-residential and infrastructure investment will only partly fill the void vacated by the housing market," the bank said.
BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said the downturn in residential consents had been offset by an upturn in commercial building.
Deutsche Bank forecast the level of residential building work to fall by nearly 20 per cent in the next 18 months.
UBS said non-residential building activity had been taking up the slack for the construction sector in the past year.
Dwelling consents down, but office building still strong
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