Off the wire
• 1st LD-Writethru: China service sector growth slows in May  • S. Korea's foreign reserves fall for first time in 3 months  • Chinese firm acquires Britain-based aircraft cabin interior supplier  • Five senior officials prosecuted for taking bribes  • New Zealand's homeless population growing: study  • Universe expands faster than expected: research  • Feature: Raul Castro and the Cuban socialist model  • News Analysis: Egypt's military strengthened by French warship, fighters  • 5 soldiers dead, 4 missing after flood sweeps army truck in Texas  • S. Korea denies THAAD talks in defense ministers' meeting with U.S. in Singapore  
You are here: 　 Home

Home building work ramps up as New Zealand tackles housing crisis

Xinhua, June 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

The value of home building work in New Zealand rose in the quarter ending March, amid a record drive to tackle the housing crisis in the biggest city of Auckland, the government statistics agency said Friday.

House building work in Auckland, home to a third of the population, grew 13 percent in the March quarter from the December 2015 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"Auckland residential construction topped 1 billion NZ dollars (683.5 million U.S. dollars) for the first time in the March 2016 quarter," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.

Nationally, the actual value of residential work hit 2.8 billion NZ dollars (1.91 billion U.S. dollars).

The figures were released the same day as an academic study showed one in every 100 New Zealanders was homeless as of the 2013 census, compared with one in 120 in 2006, and one in 130 in 2001.

They also followed the release Thursday of a draft government national policy statement, which would require local authorities to release more land for home building.

Auckland is forecast to see the average home price hit 1 million NZ dollars (683,100 U.S. dollars) - or 10 times the average Auckland income - in the next 12 months.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has repeatedly warned that soaring Auckland house prices are a risk to the country's financial stability. Endit