Value of Building Work Put in Place: December 2009 quarter

Residential buildings

The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work rose 7.4 percent in the December 2009 quarter, following a fall of 4.2 percent in the September 2009 quarter. The increase in the December 2009 quarter is the largest since June 2004.

The trend indicates that the volume of residential building work has increased in the December 2009 quarter, following falls that began in the December 2007 quarter.

Statistics New Zealand building consents releases from 2009 have reported increases in the trend for the number of new housing consents issued. The increase in residential work put in place for the December 2009 quarter reflects this.

Construction prices for residential buildings, as reported in Capital Goods Price Index: December 2009 quarter, rose 0.1 percent in the December 2009 quarter, compared with a 0.4 percent fall in the September 2009 quarter.  The main driver for the latest increase was higher prices for dwellings and out-buildings (up 0.5 percent).

The seasonally adjusted value of residential building work, in current prices, rose 7.7 percent in the December 2009 quarter, following a 4.8 percent fall in the September 2009 quarter.

The trend, in current prices, for residential building work put in place has increased in the December 2009 quarter, following falls that began in the December 2007 quarter. 

For the December 2009 year, the unadjusted value of residential building work put in place was $5,875 million, down $1,448 million (19.8 percent) from the previous December year. Of this total, new dwellings fell $1,376 million (23.1 percent), and alterations, additions, and outbuildings fell $72 million (5.2 percent).

Non-residential buildings

The seasonally adjusted volume of non-residential building work fell 6.1 percent in the December 2009 quarter, following decreases in the previous two quarters. The volume of non-residential building work for the December 2009 quarter is now 12.9 percent lower than in the March 2009 quarter.

The trend indicates that the volume of non-residential building work has been falling for four quarters, and has fallen 13.2 percent since the recent peak in the December 2008 quarter.

Construction prices for non-residential buildings, as published in Capital Goods Price Index: December 2009 quarter, fell 1.0 percent in the December 2009 quarter. Lower labour costs and contractor margins, and falling material prices due to lower local demand, were cited as the main reasons for the fall.

The seasonally adjusted value of non-residential building work, in current prices, fell 6.9 percent in the December 2009 quarter, the fourth consecutive quarterly fall.

For the December 2009 year, the unadjusted value of non-residential building work put in place was $4,948 million, down $272 million (5.2 percent) from the previous year. The largest contributions to this decrease were from hospitals and nursing homes, down $172 million (39.0 percent) and commercial buildings, down $149 million (8.9 percent). Partly offsetting these decreases was an increase in education buildings, up $127 million (20.5 percent).

All buildings

The seasonally adjusted volume of all building work rose 0.7 percent in the December 2009 quarter, following a fall of 4.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter. This increase was driven by an increase in the volume of residential building work. 

The trend indicates that the volume of all building work has been falling for eight quarters, and has fallen 25.6 percent since the most recent peak in the December 2007 quarter. 

The seasonally adjusted value of all building work, in current prices, rose 0.9 percent in the December 2009 quarter, following a fall of 5.4 percent in the previous quarter.

For the December 2009 year, the unadjusted value of all building work put in place was $10,823 million, down 13.7 percent from the previous year. Residential buildings contributed 54.3 percent of this value, down from 58.4 percent in the December 2008 year.

According to Quarterly Employment Survey: December 2009 quarter, the number of paid hours in the construction industry fell 9.2 percent for the December 2009 quarter compared with the September 2009 quarter.

Table updates

• The data for building consents issued in table 4 is now seasonally adjusted.
• The series on residential mortgage yields is now available on Infoshare.

Sampling errors

Non-response imputation

Excluded consents

Consents valued below $5,000 are excluded from statistics for the value of building work put in place. The value of excluded consents is estimated to be less than 1 percent of published values.

Low-value consents

• the consent value represents the value of work put in place
• consented work will be done during the month following the issuing of the consent.

Low-value jobs are therefore valued directly from consents (after a one-month lag), rather than by postal survey. See following table for the values included for the December 2009 quarter.

For technical information, contact: 
Clara Eatherley or Tehseen Islam
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: info@stats.govt.nz

Next release ...

 Value of Building Work Put in Place: March 2010 quarter will be released on 8 June 2010.