The value of non-residential building consents surged to their highest level ever in the September quarter, surpassing the previous quarterly record by more than $100 million.
Statistics NZ figures show the value of non residential building consents, which includes commercial buildings such as shops, offices and factories as well as non-commercial buildings such as hospitals, libraries and schools, hit $1.429 billion in the September quarter.
It was the first time the value of non-residential consents has exceeded $1.4 billion in a quarter and was more than $$100 million above the previous record of $1.316 billion set in the second quarter of 2009.
The strong growth in the September quarter was not an isolated event.
The value of non-residential building consents has grown strongly for the last two quarters and has been above $1 billion since the second quarter of last year.
Of the main property types, consents were issued for $327.3 million of office building work (new buildings plus structural alterations to existing buildings), followed by retail $231.7 million, educational $224.8 million, factories $157.2 million, storage $141.7 million, hospitals $129.1 million, social, cultural and religious buildings $85.2 million, farm buildings $72.6 million, hotels $19.1 million and miscellaneous buildings $6.2 million.
The bulk of work consented was in Canterbury ($452.2 million) and Auckland ($445.9 million) with the Wellington region a distant third at $132.2 million.
The were significant differences between the regions in the composition of work consented.
Education sector leads in Auckland
In Auckland, the biggest tranche of consents was for $140 million of new education related buildings, followed by $59.6 million of consents for new storage buildings.
There was also a high level of consents issued in Auckland for retail and office buildings, but this was fairly evenly divided between new buildings and consents for alterations to existing buildings.
Of the $76.6 million of consents issued for retail premises in the region, $40 million was for new buildings and $42.6 million was for alteration work.
Of the $76.3 million of office consents issued in Auckland, $42.2 million was for new buildings and $34.1 million was for alterations.
New office buildings in Christchurch
In Canterbury there was far less alteration work, with consents dominated by new offices buildings $128.9 million plus $13.2 million of office alterations, new hospitals $66 million and $4.1 million of alterations, new retail premises $63.1 million and $12.9 million of alterations, new storage buildings $31.2 million plus $3.9 million of alterations and $30.7 million of new factories plus $11.5 million of alterations.
In the Wellington region, building alteration work is playing a far more prominent role, most likely as a result of seismic strengthening.
The biggest single category of consents issued in Wellington in the September quarter was for $38.5 million of office alteration work, compared to to just $26.1 million of consents for new office buildings.
Alteration consents were also greater for retail premises ($7.4 million) than for new retail premises ($1.8 million).
The value of consents for alteration work was also greater than new consents for factories, storage buildings, social and cultural buildings, hotels and educational buildings in Wellington.
The total value of consents for all types of new buildings in Wellington in the September quarter was less than it was in the Waikato, while the value of consents for alteration work in Wellington was higher than in any other region except Auckland (refer tables below).
|
Value of Consents for New Buildings $million |
Value of Alterations Consented $million | |
| Q1 2013 | 634.7 | 251.1 |
| Q2 2013 | 722.8 | 352.1 |
| Q3 2013 | 758.2 | 356.9 |
| Q4 2013 | 756.9 | 362.4 |
| Q1 2014 | 764.1 | 323.6 |
| Q2 2014 | 954.9 | 306.4 |
| Q3 2014 | 1037.2 | 392.2 |
| Source:Statistics NZ |
| New Buildings $ million | Alterations $ million | |
| Auckland | 326..0 | 119.9 |
| Waikato | 68.3 | 35.0 |
| Bay of Plenty | 35.7 | 18.8 |
| Manawatu/Wanganui | 38.6 | 15.3 |
| Wellington Region | 54.7 | 74.5 |
| Canterbury | 386.1 | 66.1 |
| Otago | 37.3 | 10.0 |
Source: Statistics NZ
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