Slight rise in building activity in March quarter

The seasonally adjusted volume of total building activity was $9.1 billion in the March 2023 quarter, up 0.6 percent compared with the December 2022 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

The volume of residential building work was down 0.8 percent to $6.1 billion in the March 2023 quarter, while non-residential building work was up 3.6 percent to $3 billion over the same period.

"The March 2023 quarter marked the second quarter in a row where we have seen a fall in the volume of residential building work," construction statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

"The volume of non-residential building work, on the other hand, has seen four consecutive quarters of growth."

Volume estimates remove the effects of price changes and typical seasonal patterns.

Value of building work up 23 percent

The value of building work put in place was $36 billion in the year ended March 2023; this is up 23 percent compared with the year ended March 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, residential construction costs increased by 11 percent and non-residential costs increased by 9.0 percent.

Business price indexes: March 2023 quarter has more information.

Rise in value of non-residential building work

The value of non-residential building activity was up 25 percent in the year ended March 2023 compared with the year ended March 2022.

The building types that contributed most to this increase were:

• offices, administration, and public transport buildings, at $1.8 billion (up 43 percent)
• storage buildings, at $1.8 billion (up 45 percent)
• factories and industrial buildings, at $1.6 billion (up 31 percent).