Can we fix the broken building industry?

Building a new home has never been so expensive. The cost of building a new dwelling soared by 18% in the March 2022 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand.

In fact, residential building costs were the single biggest reason why inflation rose to 6.9% – the largest inflation rise in more than 30 years. As far back as a decade ago, the Productivity Commission found it was 30% more expensive to build a home here than in Australia. Why? The Commerce Commission is asking this very question in its residential building supplies market study, which began in November. It wants to find out whether there is enough competition and whether there are barriers for new and innovative entrants, inflating prices and making it difficult for consumers who just want a roof over their heads without paying a fortune.