Building Work Remains at High Level

Embargoed until 10:45am – 8 June 2007

Building Work Remains at High Level

The value of all building work put in place rose 3.9 percent in the March 2007 quarter (on a seasonally adjusted basis), following a rise of 2.7 percent in the December 2006 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. Work on non-residential buildings rose 7.1 percent in the March 2007 quarter, while work on residential buildings rose 0.4 percent.

When the impact of price changes is removed, the seasonally adjusted value of building work shows a rise of 2.5 percent in the March 2007 quarter, with non-residential building work rising 6.6 percent and residential building work falling 0.9 percent.

Trend values, after removal of price changes, show total building work rising for the latest two quarters, following three quarters of decline. Residential building work was flat in the March 2007 quarter, following two quarters of rises. Non-residential building work rose in the March 2007 quarter but remains below the high point recorded a year ago.

Work on non-residential buildings accounted for 40 percent of the value of all building work put in place in the year ended March 2007, compared with 41 percent for the previous March year.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician

ENDS

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