Embargoed until 10:45am – 7 March 2008
Upturn in non-residential building work
The value of non-residential building work put in place rose 13 percent in the December 2007 quarter (after removal of
price changes and seasonal fluctuation), Statistics New Zealand said today. This increase is largely due to work on
commercial buildings and follows a fall of 1.1 percent in the previous quarter.
Residential building work fell 1.5 percent in the December 2007 quarter, following a rise of 4.4 percent in the
September 2007 quarter.
The value of all building work put in place rose 3.9 percent in the December 2007 quarter (after removal of price
changes and seasonal fluctuation), following a rise of 2.3 percent in the September 2007 quarter.
Trend values for all buildings, after removal of price changes, have been increasing since the September 2006 quarter.
Non-residential building work shows an increase for the latest two quarters, while residential building work has
increased for the last six quarters.
The unadjusted value of all building work is $3,661 million in the December 2007 quarter, with nonresidential and
residential building work accounting for 37 percent and 63 percent of this value, respectively.
Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
7 March 2008
ENDS