Drop in recent levels of enquiry

Media Release
30 March 2010

Registered Master Builders sees drop in recent level of enquiry

The Registered Master Builders Federation (RMBF) says that the figures released today by Statistics New Zealand confirm the increased activity that has been evident in the market during February. Figures show the number of new housing units rose 10 percent in February (excluding apartments) when adjusted for seasonal effects.

However, RMBF CEO Warwick Quinn says that the level of enquiry has dropped significantly recently and that we may not see that trend continue in the short term. Mr Quinn says “the Government’s recent announcements on tax issues associated with depreciation on investment properties and the potential ring fencing of losses has frightened investors off and enquiries have slowed considerably. This has had a larger impact than the signalling of a possible GST increase”.

“This shows just how fragile the recovery is, and while it is pleasing to see new building consent numbers increase they are still at very low levels”. The statistics for non-residential building consents was down 17 percent when compared with February 2009 and the immediate outlook is for this sector to be flat for sometime,” says Mr Quinn.

The regions with the largest increases in February were Canterbury, Auckland and Manawatu-Wanganui. The Wellington region had the largest decrease though there were no apartment units authorised in February 2010.

ENDS

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