11 May 2011

The state of New Zealand’s housing stock has slipped according to initial findings from the BRANZ House Condition Survey.

BRANZ recently completed its fourth House Condition Survey of 573 homes throughout the country.

This is the largest survey and house inspection of its kind in New Zealand, which assesses housing defects with the hope of raising occupants’ awareness of maintenance shortcomings.

The preliminary findings of the 2010 survey note the average condition of randomly selected properties (in good or excellent condition) has dropped from 50% in the 2005 survey down to 40%. This figure is similar to the 1999 survey.

New to the 2010 survey is the inclusion rental properties and houses from throughout New Zealand, which Nikki Buckett, BRANZ Building Scientist, says could be the reason for the reduction in the overall condition of houses.

“The perception is generally that rental properties are in a worse condition than owner-occupied,” says Nikki.

Previous surveys were conducted in 2005, 1999 and 1994. The last two surveys involved the inspection of a representative sample of over 550 randomly selected, owner-occupied houses in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
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The first report, Preliminary BRANZ 2010 House Condition Survey Report released recently, gives an overview of the project and its methodology and discusses the findings surrounding ‘Structure’.

Subsequent reports will follow over the coming months and may include topics such as interiors, energy and water efficiency, costs, and social factors.

The majority of defects found by the surveyors were generally similar to those found in past surveys.

These include:
• Poor sub-floor ventilation (or blocked existing vents)
• Inadequate clearance of wall claddings from the ground to wall cladding
• Missing or corroding subfloor fasteners
• Poor maintenance and deterioration of timber windows
“This suggests that maintenance on the exterior of the house is still not at the top of the to-do list for homeowners and landlords,” says Nikki.

External envelope findings – at a glance

• The most common building materials on New Zealand houses remain timber weatherboard walls and painted profiled (i.e. corrugated) steel roofs.
• As housing stock is modernised, aluminium (both powder coated and anodised) frames are present in more houses.
• The most common wall cladding remains timber weatherboards, followed by masonry (i.e.brick) veneer.
• Just over half of the sample houses had either galvanised or coil-coated profiled metal roofs, as was the case in the 2005 and 1999 surveys.
• Aluminium windows (either powder coated or anodised) are now the most common type of window.
• The amount of timber flooring is less than previous surveys, in part due to the shift in the sample including a higher proportion of concrete slab floors.
• 20% of houses from the 2010 survey have no specialised fasteners between the piles and framing timbers.
• 60% of houses in the sample have at least one deck, with 79% of those located at ground level.

ENDS

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