SNZ's separate building data, also released yesterday for the quarter to June, returned an 18-month high with value of work in place rising to $2.89 billion.
With an estimated $4 billion in damage to Christchurch, including 100,000 homes damaged, the construction industry appears set to enjoy a boost, as could manufacturing suppliers beyond Canterbury.
The value of construction work rose to $2.89 billion from a residential surge of 21% and 13% in commercial work.
"Residential building volumes rose 10.8%, which is the third consecutive quarterly rise," SNZ building statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said in a statement.
While the trend for the volume of residential building activity had increased in the past three quarters, she noted this followed two years of declines, the level being 27% lower than the most recent peak in the September 2007 quarter.
ASB economist Jane Turner said the stronger-than-expected construction work offset the disappointment of weak building work in the first quarter.
"We expect residential construction to continue to gradually improve over 2010 . . . and non-residential construction activity to remain around current levels over the remainder of 2010," she said yesterday.
There were numerous indicators of a contraction of commercial work during the remainder of 2011, with weak consent issuance, weakening business confidence and flat investment intentions".
However, repairing earthquake damage in Canterbury may provide some offset, though the bulk of commercial rebuilding is likely to occur in 2011," she said.
Non-residential consent issuance had been "patchy" during the past 18 months, and the value of consents weakened noticeably in recent months.
"In non-residential activity, there tends to be a longer lag between consent issuance and construction activity," Ms Turner said.
Ms Holmes-Oliver said manufacturing sales were at their lowest level in more than 10 years, with declines recorded for 10 of 15 industries.
The top five contributors to the manufacturing decline included meat and dairy, textiles and apparel, beverages, malt, and tobacco, and the structural, sheet, and fabricated metal industries, she said.
Ms Turner said the decline was much weaker than expected, suggesting manufacturing activity was "relatively sluggish" during the second quarter.
"However, this follows two extremely strong quarters of growth in manufacturing production," she said.
Her outlook suggested confidence in the manufacturing sector was easing, stemming from doubts around the strength of the global economic recovery and exporting manufacturers feeling more cautious.
The Canterbury earthquake was likely to see manufacturing production disrupted during the third quarter, but she understood damage to Canterbury's manufacturing infrastructure was limited.
"Manufacturing outside of Canterbury may receive a boost, particularly in the industries that supply goods required for reconstruction or for restocking damaged goods," she said.
