The amount of residential building work fell to an eight year low in the September quarter as a run of consecutive declines extended to two years.
Figures published by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today show the seasonally adjusted volume of residential building work fell 5.4 percent in the quarter, and is now 39.8 percent lower than in the September 2007 quarter.
For non-residential building work, the seasonally adjusted volume fell 4.3 percent in the three months to September, following falls in the previous two quarters.
The volume of non-residential building work for the latest quarter was 7.7 percent lower than that for the December 2008 quarter, SNZ said.
For all building work, the seasonally adjusted volume fell 4.9 percent in the September quarter, the seventh successive quarterly fall.
The unadjusted value of residential building work put in place in the year to September was $5.94 billion, down 25.7 percent from a year earlier.
Non-residential building work was worth $5.17b for the year, down $42m or 0.8 percent from the previous year. The largest contributions to the fall were from hospitals and nursing homes, which fell $165m or 36.4 percent, and from commercial buildings, which dropped $68m or 3.9 percent.
For all building work, the value for the year fell 15.9 percent to $11.1b.
SNZ said there were indications in recent months that more building work was being delayed or put on hold, although the survey was not designed to measure those variables.
NZPA