The volume of building activity in New Zealand fell 8.6 percent in the September 2021 quarter, compared with the June 2021 quarter, Stats NZ said today.
Residential building activity fell by 6.4 percent in the September 2021 quarter, while non-residential building activity fell 12 percent.
“This was the first time since April last year that non-essential building activity paused due to COVID-19 alert level 4 restrictions,” construction statistics manager Michael Heslop said.
These volume estimates remove the effects of price changes and typical seasonal patterns. Between the June 2021 and September 2021 quarters, residential building costs rose by 4.0 percent, and non-residential building costs by 1.8 percent .
| Quarter | Non-residential | Residential | Total building |
| Sep-16 | 1175604000 | 1650275000 | 2825879000 |
| Dec-16 | 1192055000 | 1667693000 | 2859748000 |
| Mar-17 | 1114168000 | 1661495000 | 2775663000 |
| Jun-17 | 1116382000 | 1664388000 | 2780769000 |
| Sep-17 | 1123067000 | 1719855000 | 2842922000 |
| Dec-17 | 1165970000 | 1708397000 | 2874367000 |
| Mar-18 | 1139157000 | 1704145000 | 2843301000 |
| Jun-18 | 1164173000 | 1726910000 | 2891083000 |
| Sep-18 | 1160043000 | 1732045000 | 2892088000 |
| Dec-18 | 1232529000 | 1751935000 | 2984464000 |
| Mar-19 | 1332088000 | 1840265000 | 3172353000 |
| Jun-19 | 1281569000 | 1840014000 | 3121583000 |
| Sep-19 | 1306415000 | 1808912000 | 3115327000 |
| Dec-19 | 1271163000 | 1818559000 | 3089722000 |
| Mar-20 | 1218208000 | 1717850000 | 2936058000 |
| Jun-20 | 946832000 | 1456415000 | 2403247000 |
| Sep-20 | 1224553000 | 1930590000 | 3155144000 |
| Dec-20 | 1162785000 | 1963488000 | 3126273000 |
| Mar-21 | 1218638000 | 2029945000 | 3248582000 |
| Jun-21 | 1202880000 | 2088686000 | 3291566000 |
| Sep-21 | 1053306000 | 1955305000 | 3008611000 |
COVID-19 had a significant impact on building activity in 2020. The alert level 4 lockdown in the March and June 2020 quarters resulted in decreased building activity, which bounced back in the September 2020 quarter. Since then, residential building activity has been at historically high levels.
The increase in residential building activity seen since the end of 2020 has followed record levels of consents for new homes. See Consents remain at record levels for more information.
Lockdown impacts on value of building work in 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.
As a result, the seasonally adjusted value of building work put in place in Auckland dropped 11 percent in the September 2021 quarter, compared with the June 2021 quarter (which is more than the 5.3 percent drop nationally).
“More than a third of all building activity takes place in Auckland so it significantly affects the national results,” Mr Heslop said.
The seasonally adjusted value removes the effects of typical seasonal patterns but does not remove the effects of price changes.
| Quarter | Non-residential | Residential | Total building |
| Sep-16 | 590477422 | 1218685883 | 1809163304 |
| Dec-16 | 686442097 | 1273974321 | 1960416418 |
| Mar-17 | 575234362 | 1264507733 | 1839742096 |
| Jun-17 | 655689038 | 1284054748 | 1939743785 |
| Sep-17 | 693390339 | 1351478569 | 2044868908 |
| Dec-17 | 661982834 | 1380511792 | 2042494626 |
| Mar-18 | 686790266 | 1424691480 | 2111481746 |
| Jun-18 | 773670531 | 1462740060 | 2236410591 |
| Sep-18 | 770354424 | 1560703905 | 2331058329 |
| Dec-18 | 859416506 | 1598477706 | 2457894212 |
| Mar-19 | 975338808 | 1681666208 | 2657005016 |
| Jun-19 | 1002676589 | 1695907491 | 2698584079 |
| Sep-19 | 1041750371 | 1638099370 | 2679849741 |
| Dec-19 | 1014605660 | 1669154566 | 2683760226 |
| Mar-20 | 924575243 | 1563145899 | 2487721142 |
| Jun-20 | 719571520 | 1364146680 | 2083718201 |
| Sep-20 | 867111843 | 1847588367 | 2714700210 |
| Dec-20 | 815101431 | 1892999650 | 2708101081 |
| Mar-21 | 841012275 | 1969313051 | 2810325326 |
| Jun-21 | 767493827 | 2021816379 | 2789310206 |
| Sep-21 | 676766046 | 1805897225 | 2482663270 |
Auckland was at COVID-19 alert level 4 lockdown from 17 August to 21 September 2021, before moving to alert level 3.
Revisions to statistics for June 2020-June 2021 quarters
We have revised statistics for the June 2020 quarter onwards to better reflect the impact of COVID-19 alert level changes. See Methodology for Value of building work put in place: September 2021 quarter (updated on 6 December 2021).
