Building work picks up in March quarter as residential construction grows 2.6%
The volume of building work across all building rose a seasonally adjusted 1% in the three months ended March 31.
New Zealand construction activity expanded in the first three months of the year, as the country's house-building effort grew for a second quarter, making up for declining activity in the commercial space.
The volume of building work across all building rose a seasonally adjusted 1% in the three months ended March 31, turning around a 1% contraction in the December quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. Residential work expanded 2.6%, its second quarterly gain, and offsetting a 1.2% decline in non-residential work.
The value of work increased 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted $3.99 billion across all buildings, with residential work values rising 2.5% to $2.51 billion and commercial values increasing 2.6% to $1.49 billion.
"Residential building work increased, mainly in Auckland and Canterbury, but non-residential building work chiefly increased in the South Island," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
The ANZ Business Outlook showed a split between firms' investment intentions, with growing expectations for more investment in residential construction and a declining outlook for commercial construction intentions.
The building industry is struggling to keep up with demand in Canterbury, where the city is recovering from a series of devastating earthquakes, and in Auckland, where a shortage of supply has pushed real estate to record levels and seen a resurgence in new home builds. Today's data showed the two cities accounted for 60% of all building work.
Auckland building work across all buildings rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in the quarter, turning around a 5.8% decline in December, while Canterbury work expanded 3.2%, adding to 5.3% growth in the earlier quarter.
On an annual basis, construction across all buildings climbed 19% to $15.66 billion, with commercial building work up 18% to $5.93 billion and residential construction up 20% to $9.74 billion.
New residential building work rose an annual 23% to $7.88 billion.
(BusinessDesk)
Paul McBeth
Thu, 04 Jun 2015
Thu, 04 Jun 2015
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Building work picks up in March quarter as residential construction grows 2.6%
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