1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:00,440 Speaker 1: Right. 2 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 2: Construction in the South is booming, with one in five 3 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 2: new Zealand homes being built in Canterbury. In the past year, 4 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 2: six five hundred new homes were consented by Canterbury councils, 5 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 2: equating to nine point four homes per thousand residents, the 6 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 2: highest rate in the country. Canterbury is also the only 7 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 2: region still building more homes than before the COVID pandemic. 8 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 2: Construction analyst Mike Blackburn joins me, Now, thank you for. 9 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: Your time, Mike, Good morning, Francesca. 10 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 2: So why is Canterbury growing so much more than the 11 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 2: rest of the country. 12 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: Well, look, I think there's a number of combinations. Firstly, 13 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: following the extraordinary peak of building activity in twenty twenty 14 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: one and twenty twenty two, the building concent numbers across 15 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: the whole country declined significantly, and unfortunately for many other 16 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: parts of the country, building concent numbers are continuing to decline. 17 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: One of the reasons why Canterbury as a stand out 18 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: region at the moment is that those numbers have plateaued 19 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: and an actual factor, the numbers that I've been tracking 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: have actually shown a slight increase over the last six 21 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: months or so, and The number one reason why Canterbury 22 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: has continued to do so well is primarily because of 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: internal migration. So that's people moving from other places in 24 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: New Zealand to Canterbury. 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 2: Well, why wouldn't you construction? I believe that construction costs 26 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 2: in Christy to the second highest in New Zealand. That 27 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 2: doesn't seem to be slowing things. 28 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: Down, looks I'm not so convinced about that. Certainly, when 29 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: you look at the average price of a residential house 30 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: here in christ Church or or sort of certainly the 31 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: wider Canterbury area, it's it's at around about seven hundred 32 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: and thirty thousand dollars, and that's sort of significantly cheaper, 33 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: you know, twenty percent twenty five percent cheaper than a 34 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: new house in Auckland. And so I think that's another 35 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: reason why we are seeing people wanting to sort of 36 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: move down here is the fact that overall the economic 37 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: in Canterbury is actually pretty good. Jobs are relatively against 38 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: the trend of the rest of the country where we're 39 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: seeing a rise in unemployment. Jobs are still relatively plentiful 40 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: here in christ Church. Pay rates relatively on average with 41 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: many of our other larger cities and of course this 42 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: is the reason why people are choosing to sort of 43 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: relocate here to Canterbury. If you can, if you don't 44 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: have to be tied to a desk in an Auckland 45 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: or Hamilton, and you can get a job down here 46 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: in lovely Canterbury, then it's a little bit like winning lotto. 47 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 2: So the number of consents is high, people actually buying 48 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 2: these homes. Is the demand there? 49 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, Look, I spent sort of all day long 50 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: talking to builders, developers, realist that agents, and they're saying that. 51 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: Certainly over the last next months, the telephone has started 52 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: to ring again. Sales inquiries are up again, just reinforcing 53 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: what I said about people moving in from other parts 54 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: of the country. They're also seeing that same sort of 55 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: level of demand from people outside of Canterbury. So look, 56 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: relative to the number of dwellings that were being consented 57 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, year the market is down. 58 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: But look, I think that Canterbury is very very well 59 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: placed to come out of the currents that have downturn 60 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: much much faster than the rest of the country. The 61 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: current building consent numbers reinforce that, and I'm really really 62 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: positive about the next couple of years for new house 63 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: construction here in Canterbury. 64 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 2: I was just about to say will it last? 65 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: Look Look, I think I think it will. I mean 66 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: population growth is that as the number one driver for 67 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: why we build new houses. Look, Selwyn has been one 68 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: of the fastest growing regions in New Zealand for the 69 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: last three or four year years. There's a number of 70 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: combinations which sort of we need to build houses effectively. 71 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: You did mention before about the cost of construction. Obviously 72 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: a number of the changes that the government are proposing 73 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: to make it easier and cheaper to build houses will 74 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: go a long way. Fast tracked land development has been 75 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: another key thing to make sure that we've got plenty 76 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: of land supply going forward. I think that certainly here 77 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: in Canterbury, it's a very very popular place. House prices 78 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: are proportionately much much better. The economy's looking really, really good. 79 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a great couple of 80 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: years for building houses. 81 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 2: Mike, really nice to talk to you. That was Mike 82 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 2: Blackburn there. I don't worry about Australia. Head to christ 83 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 2: Church Folks. 84 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live 85 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: to news talks it be from five am weekdays, or 86 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.