Residential buildings
The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work fell 5.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter, extending its run of consecutive falls to two years. The volume is now 39.8 percent lower than it was in the September 2007 quarter.
The seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work put in place for the September 2009 quarter is the lowest recorded in eight years.
The trend indicates that the volume of residential building work has decreased over the last two years, falling by 40.2 percent over this period.
Recent Statistics NZ building consents releases have reported increases in the number of new housing consents issued. These increases are not reflected in the work put in place for the September 2009 quarter, but indicate an intention to build.
Construction prices for residential buildings, as reported in the Capital Goods Price Index: September 2009 quarter Hot Off The Press, fell 0.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter, the fourth consecutive fall. Lower prices for apartment buildings (due to lower labour and material costs for steel reinforcing and structural steelwork) drove the latest fall.
The seasonally adjusted value of residential building work, in current prices, fell 6.2 percent in the September 2009 quarter.
The trend, in current prices, for residential building work put in place has decreased over the last two years, following a period of increases for the preceding year.
For the September 2009 year, the unadjusted value of residential building work put in place was $5,938 million, down 25.7 percent from the previous September year. Of this total, new dwellings fell $1,935 million (29.5 percent).
Non-residential buildings
The seasonally adjusted volume of non-residential building work fell 4.3 percent in the September 2009 quarter, following decreases in the previous two quarters. The volume of non-residential building work for the September 2009 quarter is 7.7 percent lower than that for the December 2008 quarter.
Construction prices for non-residential buildings, as published in the Capital Goods Price Index: September 2009 quarter, fell 1.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter. Lower labour and material costs for steel reinforcing and structural steelwork drove this fall.
For the September 2009 year, the unadjusted value of non-residential building work put in place was $5,168 million, down $42 million (0.8 percent) from the previous year. The largest contributions to this decrease were from hospitals and nursing homes, down $165 million (36.4 percent), and commercial buildings, down $68 million (3.9 percent). Offsetting these decreases were increases in education buildings and miscellaneous buildings.
All buildings
The seasonally adjusted volume of all building work fell 4.9 percent in the September 2009 quarter, the seventh successive quarterly fall. These quarterly falls were mainly driven by falls in the volume of residential building work. For the second time since this series began in 1989, the seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work put in place is below the volume of non-residential building work put in place. The previous occurrence was in the June 2009 quarter.
The trend indicates that the volume of all building work fell 5.1 percent in the September 2009 quarter, and by 26.0 percent since the most recent peak in the December 2007 quarter.
The seasonally adjusted value of all building work, in current prices, fell 6.0 percent in the September 2009 quarter, following falls in the previous six quarters.
For the September 2009 year, the unadjusted value of all building work put in place was $11,106 million, down 15.9 percent from the previous year. Residential buildings contributed 53.5 percent of this value, down from 60.6 percent in the September 2008 year.
Although the survey is not designed to measure these variables, there are indications that in recent months more building work is being delayed or put on hold.
According to the Quarterly Employment Survey: September 2009 quarter Hot Off The Press, the number of paid hours in the construction industry fell 2.4 percent for the September 2009 quarter compared with the June 2009 quarter.
Sampling errors
Estimates for the value of building work put in place are derived mainly from a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling errors. The sampling errors for the September 2009 quarter are:
| Sampling errors |
| |
Percentage of total value of work put in place |
| Residential buildings |
3.8 |
| Non-residential buildings |
3.5 |
| All buildings |
2.6 |
The sample is designed to produce statistics at the 95 percent confidence interval limit. This means that for all buildings, for example, there is a 95 percent probability that the true value of work put in place this quarter is within plus or minus 2.6 percent of the published estimate.
Non-response imputation
For building projects where no survey response is received, Statistics New Zealand imputes values for work put in place, based on responses for comparable projects. The values imputed for the September 2009 quarter are:
| Non-response values imputed |
| |
Imputed values $(million) |
Percentage of category value |
Percentage of all buildings value |
| Residential buildings |
271 |
18.7 |
9.9 |
| Non-residential buildings |
117 |
9.2 |
4.3 |
| All buildings |
387 |
14.2 |
14.2 |
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
These comprise residential building consents valued from $5,000 up to $45,000, and non-residential building consents valued from $5,000 up to $80,000. For these consents, it is assumed that:
- 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. Values included for the September 2009 quarter are:
| Low-value consents included |
| |
Low-value consents $(million) |
Percentage of category value |
Percentage of all buildings value |
| Residential buildings |
78 |
5.4 |
2.9 |
| Non-residential buildings |
62 |
4.9 |
2.3 |
| All buildings |
140 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
Next release ...
Value of Building Work Put in Place: December 2009 quarter will be released on 8 March 2010.
For technical information, contact:
Bill Humphrey or Tehseen Islam
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: info@stats.govt.nz