WELLINGTON, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Building work on non-residential buildings in New Zealand, especially in the largest city Auckland, drove the overall construction volume growth in the December 2018 quarter, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.
Nationally, the total volume of building activity increased a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in the latest quarter, when compared with the September 2018 quarter, Stats NZ said.
This was driven by more non-residential construction, including work on shopping malls and storage buildings, which was up 5 percent, the biggest quarterly increase in almost three years, it said.
In Auckland, construction of shops, including shopping malls, restaurants and bars, was up 52 percent in 2018, Stats NZ said.
"Growth in commercial construction activity was driven by more work on shops and accommodation buildings, particularly in Auckland," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said in a statement.
The value of non-residential building in Auckland was up almost 10 percent in the December 2018 quarter. This change in value reflected changes in both the volume and the costs of construction, McKenzie said.
Nationally, non-residential construction prices rose 1.2 percent in the December 2018 quarter, as measured by the capital goods price index, statistics showed.
Construction of accommodation buildings, including hotels, motels, boarding houses, and prisons, in Auckland was up 212 million NZ dollars (143 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, 78 percent more than for the 2017 year, according to Stats NZ.
