New Zealand home building expands by highest rate in 10 years

Home building activity in New Zealand surged by 12 percent in the quarter to the end of March, the highest rate in more than a decade,bringing activity back to pre-Global Financial Crisis levels, the government statistics agency announced Wednesday.

"Activity in the residential building sector has been steadily rising, and by March 2013 we had the fourth consecutive quarter of growth," Statistics New Zealand industry and labor statistics manager Blair Cardno said in a statement.

"Looking long-term, residential building activity has been trending up since September 2011, and is now at a level last seen in late 2008. The trend for overall building activity is also close to the level of the September 2008 quarter, after recovering from the low point of 18 months ago."

Nationally, non-residential building activity fell 0.8 percent in the March quarter, but surged ahead in the Canterbury region, which has been battered by a series of earthquakes since September 2010, including a 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 185 people in February 2011.

Residential building work also grew by 21 percent in Canterbury during the quarter.