Mixed results in building activity – Media release
4 September 2013
The volume of residential building activity fell 1.8 percent in the June 2013 quarter, the first fall in a year,
Statistics New Zealand said today. This fall follows a strong increase of 11 percent in the March 2013 quarter.
Meanwhile, the volume of non-residential building activity rose 1.4 percent in the June 2013 quarter, following a small
fall in the March quarter.
Trends for all building activity volume continued to grow in the June 2013 quarter.
“The trend for residential building activity has been growing since September 2011, increasing by 33 percent over this
time. The trend for non-residential building activity has risen 12 percent over the last year-and-a-half,” industry and
labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.
Overall building activity has been trending up since the most recent low point in September 2011, with growth of 23
percent. The current level of the trend for all building activity volume is now 17 percent lower than the peak eight
years ago in the June 2005 quarter.
The volume of overall building activity fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the June 2013 quarter, after
increasing 5.4 percent the previous quarter.
In Canterbury, non-residential building activity fell 17 percent in current prices in the June 2013 quarter, following
an 18 percent rise in the March 2013 quarter.
The trend for the value of all building activity in Canterbury, in current prices, has been rising for two years, and
the level has more than doubled since June 2011. Across the rest of New Zealand, excluding Canterbury, the trend for the
value of all building activity has grown 15 percent over the same period.
ENDS