Building work put in place for the quarter to December rose 1.4%, underpinned by non-residential work, and much of that in Christchurch.
Statistics New Zealand construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said the volume of activity for both residential and non-residential building was at near-record levels in the previous quarter, but for the quarter to December total building activity volume was up 1.4%; compared with 2.8% previously.
For residential building activity, the volume fell 0.4% in the latest quarter, following a 4.1% rise in the September 2017 quarter, Ms McKenzie said.
The volume of activity for hospitals, storage, factories, and other non-residential building rose 4.1% in the December quarter, she said.
''The value of building work on accommodation buildings is likely to stay high into the near future, as the value of consents for tourism-related buildings surged in 2017,'' Ms McKenzie said.
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said the increasing construction activity for the quarter mainly related to non-residential construction, centred on Canterbury.
''There is a large pipeline of planned construction work.
''However, the combination of stretched capacity, rising costs and tighter credit conditions means that building activity is likely to increase at a gradual pace over the coming year,'' Mr Ranchhod said in a statement.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the softer than expected result reflected that ongoing capacity constraints were ''putting the handbrake'' on additional construction activity at present.
''Further, housing construction demand is likely to slow in the near term due to uncertainties from the change in Government, but we expect activity to recover once there is more clarity around the KiwiBuild programme,'' Mr Tuffley said.
Ms McKenzie said in value terms, non-residential building activity rose 1.8% on the previous year to $7.4billion in the year ended December 2017.
The non-residential building types with the greatest increases in the December 2017 year were factories and industrial buildings, up $130million, or 22%, to $733million.
She said hotels, motels, boarding houses, and prisons were up by $110million, or 23% to $585million, coinciding with record short-term travel in 2017 into New Zealand, and record high hotel occupancy in 2017.
