Residential the laggard as building activity rises

The seasonally adjusted volume of building activity rose 1.1 per cent in the December quarter, compared to the three months to September. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The seasonally adjusted volume of building activity rose 1.1 per cent in the December quarter, compared to the three months to September, Statistics New Zealand says.

The overall volume increase included a 10.6 per cent rise in non-residential building work and a 7.1 per cent fall in residential work.

The rise in the volume of non-residential building work was the fourth in a row, and took it above the volume of residential building work for only the second time since the series began in 1989, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.

The seasonally adjusted value of residential building work fell 7.1 per cent, while the value of non-residential work lifted 11 per cent, and the value of all work rose 0.6 per cent.

Unadjusted, the value of residential building activity in the December quarter was 3.1 per cent lower than a year earlier at $1.51 billion, while the value of non-residential building gained 18.8 per cent to $1.34 billion, and for all buildings it was up 6.1 per cent to $2.85 billion.

For the year to December, residential building activity was 6.5 per cent up on a year earlier to $6.26 billion, non-residential work fell 1.6 per cent to $4.82 billion, while the total value of all building work was up 2.8 per cent to $11.08 billion.

- NZPA