WELLINGTON: The seasonally adjusted volume of building activity was $8.9 billion in the June 2023 quarter, down 0.1 percent compared with the March 2023 quarter, according to latest figures released by Stats NZ.
The volume of residential building work was down 2.0 percent to $5.8 billion, while non-residential building work was up 3.7 percent to $3.1 billion over the same period.
“The June 2023 quarter marked the third quarter in a row where the volume of building work has fallen for residential buildings but risen for non-residential buildings,” construction statistics manager Michael Heslop said.
“These contrasting movements led to overall building activity in the June 2023 quarter being relatively flat,” he added.
Rise in value of non-residential building work
The value of non-residential building activity was up 28 percent in the year ended June 2023 compared with the year ended June 2022.
The building types that contributed most to this increase were:
- storage buildings, at $1.9 billion, up 49 percent
- offices, administration, and public transport buildings at $2.0 billion, up 44 percent
- education buildings at $2.0 billion, up 21 percent.
However, a rise in USD against the NZ Dollar has also complicated matters for the ongoing projects. A rise in USD means that all supplies are now dearer which has meant renegotiation of many contracts.
