NZ residential building activity rises 4.3% in 4th-qtr
NZ residential building activity rises 4.3% in 4th-qtr, driven by Canterbury
March 4 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand residential building activity rose for the first time in three quarters in the final three months of 2014, led by earthquake-related rebuilding work in Canterbury.
The value of residential building work put
in place rose 4.3 percent to $1.4 billion, seasonally
adjusted, in the fourth quarter, and was up 2.2 percent from
the same period a year earlier, according to Statistics New
Zealand. Non-residential work fell 5 percent to $996 million
and was down 0.7 percent from a year earlier.
On an
unadjusted basis, the value of all building work climbed 23
percent in calendar 2014 to $15.3 billion, rounding out the
third straight year of gains, with Auckland and Canterbury
alone accounting for $9.7 billion, or nearly two third of
the national total. The gain in residential activity in the
fourth quarter may have partly reflected a rebound after a
quiet spell for the housing market in the third quarter,
around September's general election, said economists at
Westpac Banking Corp.
"The recent soft outturns for
quarterly construction growth are by no means a sign that
the trend is slowing," said Westpac economist Michael
Gordon. "The level of building work jumped by a near-record
14 percent in the March quarter last year and has
effectively maintained that level
since."
(BusinessDesk)