Non-Residential Building Work Surges in Dec 2023 Quarter

The seasonally adjusted volume of non-residential building work was $3.1 billion in the December 2023 quarter, up 4.6 percent compared with the September 2023 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work was $5.6 billion, down 2.4 percent over the same period.

"The rise in non-residential building work offset a decrease in residential building work, which led to total building activity being flat for the December 2023 quarter," construction and statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

The total volume of building activity in New Zealand was $8.7 billion in the December 2023 quarter, down 0.1 percent compared with the September 2023 quarter.

Seasonally adjusted volume estimates remove the effects of price changes and typical seasonal patterns.

Annual value of building work up 7.1 percent

The value of building work was $37 billion in the year ended December 2023, up 7.1 percent from the year ended December 2022.

Value estimates of building work put in place, in contrast to volume estimates, include changes to building costs over time (such as material and labour costs).

In the past 12 months, the capital goods price index recorded a 5.7 percent increase in non-residential construction prices and a 4.3 percent increase in residential construction prices.

Business price indexes: December 2023 has more information on the capital goods index.

Offices, health, and social buildings lead rise in annual value of non-residential building work

The value of non-residential building work was up 18 percent in the year ended December 2023 compared with the year ended December 2022.

The building types that contributed most to this increase were:

• hospitals, nursing homes, and other health buildings, up 41 percent to $1.6 billion
• offices, administration, and public transport buildings, up 24 percent to $2.1 billion
• social, cultural, and religious buildings, up 43 percent to $1.2 billion.

"The value of building work for health buildings and offices has been increasing steadily for the past two years, and in 2023 there was a similar increase for social, cultural, and religious buildings," Heslop said.

Social, cultural, and religious buildings cover a wide range of construction including churches, marae, libraries, museums, and sporting facilities such as stadiums.

Regional breakdown of total building work

By region, the value of total building work in the year ended December 2023 compared with the year ended December 2022, was:

• $15 billion in Auckland (up 9.0 percent)
• $3.6 billion in Waikato (up 4.9 percent)
• $3.2 billion in Wellington (down 0.6 percent)
• $5.8 billion in the rest of the North Island (up 1.6 percent)
• $5.5 billion in Canterbury (up 15 percent)
• $3.8 billion in the rest of the South Island (up 6.9 percent).