The Importance of the Building and Housing Sector

The building and housing sector is an important contributor to New Zealand's economic and environmental performance and social wellbeing. It contributes around 5 percent to gross domestic product and impacts on every person in New Zealand in terms of where they live, work and how their communities function.

The sector has an important role to play in long-term sustainable strategies for the economy, society, environment and culture.

The sector covers physical building and construction, building professionals and local authorities through to home and building owners, investors, landlords and tenants, and property managers.

The Government influences overall sector performance, the quality of building and housing, and the built environment. The Government's interest in the sector is a consequence of the drive to build a sustainable economy, and to sustain family and community living standards. This is achieved by:

• regulating building and housing standards and systems
• regulating market transactions
• providing information and services
• providing social housing and other housing programmes
• conducting research and evaluation, and providing technical advice.

These regulations and services benefit the quality of life for everyone.

The work of the Department contributes to the Government's three key themes.

• Economic transformation: by supporting the development of a sustainable economy based on innovation and quality
• Families - young and old: by sustaining family and community living standards
• National identity: by supporting innovation and good design in the built environment

Economic transformation

Over the next decade, the Government is working to progress our economic transformation into a high-income, knowledge-based market economy, which is both innovative and creative, and provides a unique quality of life for all New Zealanders.

Strong, vibrant communities and cities attract and retain people because they are great places to live and work. How well our cities and towns work, and the quality of our built environment, matter for them to be an attractive destination for people and skills. Building sustainable cities is an important part of this.

A sustainable building and housing sector contributes to New Zealand's growth and economic performance, environmental outcomes and social wellbeing. The converse is also true - a poorly performing sector can be a significant barrier to growth and have negative impacts on the wellbeing and wealth of individuals, as well as imposing substantial environmental costs.

Housing and building activity levels are significant within the economy, with a direct effect on the consumer price index and interest rates. Activity levels also influence spending levels and provide wider benefits from employment in the sector. Approximately 90 percent of New Zealand households' net assets are held in housing.

Good-quality homes result from a performance-based system that ensures homes are warm, safe and healthy, offer appropriate amenity and are sustainable.

Good-quality commercial buildings provide the basis for innovative and productive workplaces. They contribute directly to developing a safe and healthy workplace, which in turn underpins workplace productivity and innovation.

Building and housing issues also impact directly on the environment through urban sprawl, in-fill effects, resource consumption (materials, energy, water, etc), infrastructure requirements (transport, energy, sewerage systems and water supply), and people's sense of the amenity value of their neighbourhoods. Growing urbanisation and demands on energy make enhancing energy efficiency and reducing waste and pollution important goals - yet these can also have significant flow-through effects on building materials, housing, and building design and construction (or repair and retrofitting) costs. Getting the balance right between costs and benefits, both short term and long term, is critically important.

A well-performing building and construction sector has the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality buildings to meet demand now and be responsive to future needs. Current capacity and capability constraints across the sector are impacting on sector productivity and performance.

The Government and the sector both recognise the need for reform to lift building quality and performance and improve skills and professionalism. Working with its sector stakeholders, the Department is delivering a programme of reforms to drive improved performance. These are wide-ranging reforms that are being implemented over time and can therefore be expected to deliver results in the medium term.

Families - young and old

Over the next decade, the Government wants to ensure that all families, young and old have the support and choices they need to be secure and be able to reach their full potential within our knowledge-based market economy.

Sustainable family and community living standards are supported by strong families, healthy and confident kids, safe communities, better health for all and positive ageing.

Good-quality housing will contribute to the development of strong families, their wellbeing, and the health, educational and social development of children.

Housing and the surrounding built environment also provides the base for our families to engage with the community of which they are a part, allowing the development of community links and networks. The built environment provides for both the commercial and social needs of the community. Well-designed built environments provide spaces for recreation, which in turn can help foster healthy and confident kids, and better health for all. They can also provide a better connection between people and the environment. Good planning and design is also central to providing a built environment that enhances community safety.

The Department works with Housing New Zealand Corporation under the New Zealand Housing Strategy to achieve a vision that 'all New Zealanders have access to affordable, sustainable, good-quality housing appropriate to their needs'. The Department's focus under the strategy is on sustainable development in the building and housing sector as a whole and good quality development in urban areas. As the monitoring department for Housing New Zealand Corporation, the Department works with the Corporation to support the upgrading of the social housing stock and the development of initiatives to support homeownership.

Affordability has emerged as a significant issue. Homeownership and affordable rental housing are important public policy issues. The Department is further developing its understanding of the homeownership and rental markets to enhance its ability to provide the Government with high-quality advice on these matters. The forecast decline in homeownership and changes in ownership structures mean policies and strategies may have to be more adaptable in the future.

National identity

Over the next decade, the Government wants all New Zealanders to be able to take pride in who we are, through our arts, culture, film, sports and music, appreciation of our natural environment, understanding of our history and our stance on international issues.

Houses, buildings and the built environment play an important part in defining New Zealand's national identity. While these are places where people live and work, they also reflect national history and sense of identity and place. New Zealand architecture draws upon the heritage of the people who have settled here, and has evolved in a manner that takes account of our unique geography, climate and lifestyle. The design, functionality and materials used in homes, buildings and the built environment make a statement about national identity. They contribute to how New Zealand is seen by the world.

The Department's contribution

The establishment of the Department of Building and Housing has been an important step in building government capability to effect changes in a vital sector of the economy and society.

The Department's advice, regulatory, dispute resolution and information functions provide the basis for addressing the significant issues facing the building and housing sector, which are:

• sustainability
• affordability
• quality
• skills and training
• sector performance
• technology and innovation
• consumer expectations.

The following section sets out the Department's strategies to address these issues.