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Construction costs are little changed since the start of the year.
Latest figures from QV CostBuilder indicate construction costs were relatively steady over the three months ended February amid an ongoing downturn for the industry.
"Construction costs continue to flatten out for the most part, weighed down by challenging economic conditions and reduced demand as a result," QV CostBuilder quantity surveyor Martin Bisset said.
The average cost of building a standard one-storey 150-square-metre home or 230m² two-storey home in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin or Palmerston North rose 0.4 percent in the three months ended February compared with a 0.6 percent increase recorded for the three months ended November 2024.
The cost of building a home in one of those six centres increased by an average of 1.5 percent, which was in contrast to double-figure growth throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023.
"We all remember the Gib crisis three years ago," Bisset said. "Fortunately, we're not having any of these sorts of issues today - global supply chains are now operating more or less as they should be, and demand for materials has dropped dramatically. This is helping to keep a lid on prices."
However, he said geopolitical instability had the potential to drive up costs.
"There continues to be high levels of tension and uncertainty in international relations right now, with armed conflicts, trade wars, and a general sense of political volatility posing a risk not only to construction costs but also to the economy as a whole," he said.
"Anything that impedes the flow of goods across the world has the potential for increasing the difficulty and therefore the cost of acquiring building materials here in Aotearoa. We all saw the impact that Covid-19 had."
The cost of building non-residential buildings, excluding educational buildings, was also steady, with a 0.1 percent rise over the most recent period, with year on year costs up 1.2 percent.
"Bear in mind that all of these figures are averages and the true cost of construction will always depend on the level of finishes, internal layout, and all manner of other elements," he said.
