Northland's building industry is in crisis.
Only 36 new building consents were issued in the region in October - the lowest number in more than 17 years.
The situation is so bad, both locally and nationally, that the Registered Master Builders Association says the industry is in recession again.
One experienced Whangarei builder is predicting things will get even worse.
The 36 new homes consented in Northland in October - 19 in Whangarei, nine in the Far North and eight in the Kaipara - is exactly half the 72 consented in September and way below the high of 161 in December 2005 at the height of the real estate boom.
Northland board member on the Certified Builders Association Mark Dobbs said the industry was in trouble in Northland with many firms struggling.
"It's really tough and I don't think we've seen the end of this recession yet," Mr Dobbs said.
"Some of our members are holding up fairly well, but [for most] it's a week-by-week or month-by-month situation. There are lots of small jobs rather than the big projects that last for six months to a year. It's the same though right around the country."
He said many builders were concentrating on renovations as many homeowners who would normally be looking to sell then build anew, were instead hanging on to their homes and renovating them instead.
"But that's only temporary relief. It's filling the market at the moment, but I can't see things improving a heck of a lot at all next year."
Mr Dobbs said now was not a good time for anybody to get into the building industry. There were only a handful of apprentices working in the region.
Some firms are understood to have laid builders and labourers off, while others were not employing any new staff.
"There are very, very low apprentice numbers [in the industry] and that's pretty sad. That's a real worry. I'd love to take on another apprentice, but we just can't do it at the moment," he said.
A lack of apprentices now would lead to a shortage of skilled builders in the future, Mr Dobbs said.
Registered Master Builders Federation (RMBF) chief executive Warwick Quinn said the figures released by Statistics New Zealand confirmed that the building sector is in recession again.
Nationally the number of new housing units fell by another 1.1 per cent in October (excluding apartments) to 1123 - down 20 per cent since March.
Mr Quinn said the small gains the residential building sector experienced earlier in the year were now well and truly behind it and the sector is clearly in recession again.
"We are not far off returning to the 65-year low experienced in March 2009 and with the non-residential sector also under pressure the industry is arguably in a worse state now that it was last year," he said.
Mr Quinn said since March all cost-related announcements that influence construction had been negative.
Increased costs such as GST, higher interest rates, the impacts of the emissions trading scheme, changes to property tax, higher wood, concrete and steel prices and a struggling wider housing market have combined to deter consumers from building new homes.
He said it was still too early to tell if the October income tax cuts would have any positive effect.
Mr Quinn said non-residential construction was held up during the recession with investment in public infrastructure such as sports stadiums, airports and the like but these are coming to completion.
He believed that until investors and consumers were confident with the stability of the wider economy the sector would remain flat for some time.
Northland building industry in CRISIS
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