WELLINGTON: The total value of all building work in New Zealand climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2015, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday – coming in at NZ$4.061 billion. The headline figure topped expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent following the upwardly revised 1.8 percent jump in the first quarter (originally 1.5 percent).
This was the highest quarterly value recorded in the 50 years since the series began, the bureau said. “The value of both residential and non-residential building work increased overall,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.
The value of residential building activity dipped 1.0 percent on quarter to NZ$2.504 billion, the bureau said, while the value of non-residential work jumped 5.2 percent to NZ$1.557 billion.
The work represents almost NZ$900 worth of building work per head of estimated resident population. For all building work, 59 percent of the total came from two regions: Auckland (NZ$1,315 million) and Canterbury (NZ$1,087 million). “In Auckland, residential work grew, while in Canterbury most of the growth was in non-residential work,” Kelly said.
The volume trend for non-residential building activity reached a new high in Q2, exceeding levels last seen in the March 2006 quarter. Meanwhile, the residential building activity volume trend is still 8.0 percent lower than the June 2004 quarter peak. The overall building activity volume trend grew to a level last seen 10 years ago in the June 2005 quarter, the previous series peak.
