The total value of new buildng work commenced hit $5.51 billion in the third quarter of this year, up 6.4% compared to the same period of last year, according to Statistics NZ's Survey of Building Work Put in Place.
The biggest increase was in new residential building work, which was worth $3.606 billion in the third quarter of this year, compared to $3.357 billion in the second quarter of this year and $3.286 billion in the third quarter of last year.
Non-residential building work was worth $1.904 billion in the third quarter of this year compared to $1.8 billion in the second quarter of this year and $1.893 in the third quarter of last year.
Auckland accounted for the lion's share of activity, with $2.096 billion of new building work put in place in the third quarter of this year, up 13.1% compared to the same period of last year.
In the Waikato $512 million of new building work was put in place (+8.5% on a year earlier), in Wellington it was $471 million (+23.4%) and in Canterbury it was $998 million (-16.7%).
It was the fourth consecutive quarterly decline in Canterbury where the rate of decline in new buidling work is steadily increasing.
"While the volume of residential building activity is at a record high, the number of new homes consented was higher in the mid-1970s and 2004," Statistics NZ construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.
"This may reflect that homes and alterations being built now are often bigger, more complex and subject to different regulations," she said.
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