Residential building work falls 7 pc

Monday, 08 September 2008

The volume of residential building work put in place fell a seasonally adjusted 7.3 percent in the June quarter, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.

It was the third fall in a row, with the volume of residential building work put in place 15.6 percent lower in the June quarter than the September 2007 quarter, and the lowest since the December 2002 quarter.

The seasonally adjusted volume of non-residential building work fell 3.6 percent in the June quarter, following a fall of 5.8 percent in the March quarter, SNZ said.

The seasonally adjusted volume of all building work put in place fell 5.8 percent in the June quarter, following a fall of 6.5 percent in the March 2008 quarter.

The trend indicated the volume of residential building work had decreased 15.3 percent during the latest three quarters, while for non-residential building work the volume had decreased for the latest two quarters, SNZ said.

For the year ended June, the unadjusted value of all building work put in place was $13.49 billion -- 4.4 percent higher than the previous June year.

ASB economist Jane Turner said residential construction had borne the brunt of the current economic slowdown. High interest rates, slowing net immigration and increased employment uncertainty had seen the demand for housing fall.

From consents data, she had expected non-residential construction to hold up better than today's result showed.

Increased economic uncertainty and credit availability concerns may have put some business investment decisions on hold.

 NZPA