2009 Q4 Building Industry Confidence Survey Results

eboss, the online technical library for the New Zealand building industry, has conducted its quarterly survey of building industry professionals to assess confidence levels amongst the architects, architectural designers, builders, engineers, interior designers, specifiers and suppliers that comprise the New Zealand building industry. More than 175 building industry professionals representing every region of New Zealand responded to the survey.

7. Influence on building activity going forward

51.2% of the industry say the availability of finance will be the biggest influence on building activity going forward, followed by 29.7% who name interest rates. In distant third is migration at 11.6%, followed by Building Consent and Building Act changes at 7%. RMA changes barely get a mention at 0.6%.

Mike Flooks is quick to point out that this does not mean the RMA and building consent processes don’t need to change.

“The availability of finance will either stop or start a project and so that is the biggest factor for stimulating activity, but once that is in place you still require the business consent and RMA process to be effective and efficient so you don’t encounter time delays and additional expense.”

Gareth Kiernan agrees with the assessment made by survey respondents, saying, “there are no surprises here, and we have said since the beginning of the downturn that the availability of finance is definitely the overriding factor for recovery, with interest rates being secondary.”

However, Derek Baxter remains unconvinced.

“Availability of finance is a factor in very large construction projects, which is evident when you look around and try to identify any privately financed large construction projects that have started this year. However, for the residential market I don’t think availability of finance is the issue – it’s about customer confidence, including the confidence to put themselves into debt to the same levels. Job security factors into those confidence levels, as does capital gain. People factor that in to their financing decisions, and right now there is a question mark over a potential capital gains tax. When those things are more stable and confidence returns, there will be more building activity.”

Download the full Building Industry Confidence report here.