Building consents for all non-residential buildings including offices, education buildings, storage, and cultural buildings were worth $6.5 billion in 2017, up 8 percent from the December 2016 year, Stats NZ said today.

Social and cultural buildings and hotels were the main contributors to the increase in the value of all non-residential building consents.

“Three big projects consented last year were the New Zealand International Convention Centre, Auckland’s Aotea Centre, and Tūranga (Christchurch’s new central library). These boosted the category known as social, cultural, and religious buildings,” construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

The non-residential building types with the highest value movements were:
• social, cultural, and religious buildings – up $257 million to $630 million
• hotels, motels, and other short-term accommodation – up $208 million to $457 million
• factories and industrial buildings – up $193 million to $662 million
• education buildings – down $202 million to $1.0 billion.

The decrease in the value of education buildings consented was mainly due to the boost of education-related consents in Auckland and Otago regions in 2016.

“The increase in hotels, motels, and other short-term accommodation consented coincides with a rise in international visitors,” Ms. McKenzie said. “Hotels in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and the Queenstown-Lakes district have contributed to this increase.”

The value of building consents is not adjusted for changes in construction costs over time.

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