Level 4 restrictions caused a $307m decline in building activity in Auckland, with residential construction taking the biggest hit

Construction activity declined by $307m in Auckland due to the Level 4 restrictions while activity appears to have increased in the rest of the country

Property / news

Construction activity declined by $307m in Auckland due to the Level 4 restrictions while activity appears to have increased in the rest of the country

6th Dec 21, 12:10pm by Greg Ninness

Level 4 lockdown restrictions reduced building activity in Auckland by $306.6 million (-11%) in the third quarter of this year, according to Statistics NZ's latest building activity survey.

The total value of building work undertaken in Auckland in the third quarter of this year was $2.483 billion, down from $2.789 billion in the second quarter.

Auckland was in Level 4 lockdown from 17 August to 21 September.

That was the lowest level of building activity in Auckland in any quarter since the second quarter of last year, when Level 4 restrictions were also in place.

Residential construction took the biggest hit, declining by $215.9 million (-10.7%) in the third quarter of this year compared to the second quarter, while non-residential construction was down by $90.7 million (-11.8%) over the same period.

However building activity in the rest of New Zealand excluding Auckland appears to have increased in the third quarter of this year. That's because the national figures show a decline in building activity of just $283 million in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, which was less than the $306.6 million decline in Auckland.

That suggests the decline in building activity was either mostly, or entirely, confined to Auckland.

"Auckland spent more time at Alert Level 4 than the rest of the country, which meant non-essential building activity was paused for longer," Statistics NZ construction statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

"More than a third of all building activity takes place in Auckland so it significantly affects the national results," he said.

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10 Comments

by nktokyo | 6th Dec 21, 12:48pm 1638748084

How do they measure this?

by VanillaChilli | 6th Dec 21, 1:18pm 1638749883

in miliJacindas per hour ... mJA/h ?

by 2 Tooth Bora | 6th Dec 21, 1:43pm 1638751416

Making up for it now, it has simply gone mad out there in the construction industry, barely keeping up.

Government hoping this and exports will lift the economy.

by Rob Reid | 6th Dec 21, 1:45pm 1638751545

I wonder if Auckland building will bounce back as lockdowns ease, or whether other factors (eg. people fleeing AKL) make this a more permanent trend.

The place is too big for my liking anyway, so happy for it to choke off and decline.

by The Person | 6th Dec 21, 11:21pm 1638786112

Yeah, we should choke off any settlement that gets > 100K people. Too big for my liking.

by nigelh | 6th Dec 21, 2:01pm 1638752489

Surely this $307m is just postponed construction activity?

Tried to get a builder to do anything within three months? Once construction activity gets going again the three months will probably extend to something between 6 months and a year.

by Just a Plumber. | 6th Dec 21, 3:13pm 1638756825

Correct.

by waymad | 6th Dec 21, 3:56pm 1638759362

Watson, would you confirm that this here article is stating the bleedingly obvious?

No shite, Sherlock.

by CWBW | 6th Dec 21, 8:03pm 1638774211

A deteriorating construction sector will be good for house prices.

Be quick!

by Colin Nemo | 6th Dec 21, 10:37pm 1638783424

Special thanks for the current government for supporting migration into NZ. Without their support, Auckland would not have been able to achieve so much fantastic diversity in the CBD and South Auckland. Now, there's more choice than ever with endless Indian, Malaysian and Thai options so I can eat a different dish every day.

Not just that, this has enabled these newly minted kiwis to stabilise the housing price, valuations and prices. These kiwis with foreign roots are the real economic drivers of society and without their will to own their own homes here, prices would have plummeted dramatically. Also, Jacinda's intentions to open the borders is going to stimulate even more economic growth and diversity as the next wave of Asian migrants come over to become New Zealanders after April 30, 2022. She is so smart.

Surprisingly, in my office, there was a whole group of Indians buying up houses over the past six months and took advantage of that once in life time dip buying opportunity. I'm not seeing any locals do the same tbh, which is arguable to say that locals are not support local builders, real estate agents or brokers rather, it's the Indians and Chinese buying and building their homes and doing the heavy lifting and keeping the NZ housing market and economy strong.