"The last time new housing build costs were increasing this rapidly was in the middle of the last housing boom in September 2005," said KiwiBank chief economist Zoe Wallis. The rising costs are likely to be even higher in Auckland where new dwelling consents topped more than 10,000 in the year to November. Kelly said he was optimistic the rising costs would not be a major headwind to the scale-up of building in Auckland. Meanwhile, Westpac chief economist Michael Gordon pointed out that building price pressure had actually eased in Christchurch. The housing costs category of the index was up 3.3 per cent for the full year.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 26, 2017 00:42 UTC