Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Canterbury rebuild props up non-residential sector

Updated at 11:53 am on 1 September 2012

Matt Nolan from Infometrics says non-residential building activity in the three months to July rose 1.8% on the same period in 2011, but relied on activity in Christchurch and its surrounding regions to stay in the black.

Excluding Canterbury, activity was down 13% from a year earlier and the cost of building non-residential buildings increased slightly.

Mr Nolan attributes the decline in non-residential building activity mostly to reduced expenditure by the Government and local councils.

He says public sector activity fell 37% in the three months to July compared to a year earlier.

He says activity was at quite a high level from 2007 - 2009, as the Government was investing and then looking at stabilising the economy during the global financial crisis, but it is now pulling back from that planned activity.

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