The number of new homes consented in the second quarter (Q2) of this year was basically stagnant but the average value of the building work involved set a record high.
According to Statistics NZ, 8196 new dwellings were consented throughout the country in Q2 this year, barely changed from the 8179 consented in Q1 this year and the 8279 dew dwellings consented in Q2 last year.
That flattening in planned building work suggests the current slump in residential building work may have bottomed out.
However consents remain about a third lower than the levels of 2021 and 2022 when more than 12,000 consents were issued for new dwellings in each of the second quarters of both years.
However while the number of consents being issued is well down from its peak, average build costs continue to rise.
When the number of new dwelling consents peaked at 13,251 in Q4 2021, the average estimated build cost (excluding land) was $379,656 per dwelling.
By Q2 this year, the average building cost had swelled to a record $471,683, up $92,027 (+24.2%) compared to the Q3 2021 peak.
Conversely, the total estimated value of the residential building work consented over the same period declined from $5.031 billion in Q3 2021 to $3.866 billion in Q2 this year, a drop of $1.165 billion (-23.2%).
The outlook for non-residential building work, which includes everything from schools and hospitals to office blocks and factories, also appears to have flattened out after dropping away considerably since the beginning of 2023.
Consents were issued for 891 new, non-residential buildings in Q2 this year, barely changed from 883 in Q2 last year but down by 29.7% compared to Q2 2022.
Over the same period the total estimated value of that building work declined form $1.723 billion to $1.687 billion, a drop of just $36 million (-2.0%), which was propped up by an increase in the average value of building work consented from $1.36 million to $1.89 million, up 39% in three years.
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2 Comments
When Zuru.Tech houses are approved the rest of the sector is done for. With wage costs and all the extra leave and holidays lumped on employers it's no surprise. Thanks ponzi fueling RBNZ And Last Govt.
When Zuru.Tech houses are approved the rest of the sector is done for
Is that before or after vaporware bricklaying robots take it over first?
Or maybe Elon Musks invisible $20k houses.
If you check out construction firms being liquidated, they're over represented by cheap prefab builders.
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