Summarised by Centrist

The cost of building a new home continues to rise, although not as quickly as some earlier forecasts suggested.

New figures from QV CostBuilder show average residential building costs increased 1.6 per cent in the three months to May and 2.4 per cent over the past year.

The increase came despite a sharp drop in diesel prices, which fell 18.9 per cent and helped reduce pressure on fuel-intensive parts of the construction sector.

QV quantity surveyor Martin Bisset said lower diesel prices had provided some relief, but “was not enough in itself to stop prices rising”.

He said a range of building materials had increased in cost, including garage doors, timber, concrete, cladding and pipework. PVC products recorded particularly large increases.

“We probably saw more material prices increase last month than I had done for quite an amount of time,” Bisset said.

Among the products tracked by QV, concrete prices rose, framing timber increased about 3 per cent, and plasterboard also became more expensive.

Bisset said some suppliers and builders may have delayed passing on higher costs while competition for work remained strong, but warned that “other costs are starting to increase”.

At the same time, residential building activity remained strong. Statistics New Zealand data showed 3,692 residential building consents were issued in April, up 11 per cent on the same month last year.

A total of 39,087 dwelling consents were issued in the year to April, 17 per cent higher than the previous year, with townhouses accounting for 43 per cent of all new dwelling consents.

Read more over at RNZ

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