A change has been approved to reduce the Building Levy rate by 13 per cent, meaning homeowners will soon see a drop in building consent costs, says general manager of Building Performance at MBIE, Anna Butler.

'As part of the changes to building laws that are currently underway, we're easing some of the cost of building for New Zealanders, starting with lowering the levy rate.

'Under the new levy rate consent fees for a residential build of $300,000 will reduce from $603 to $525. This is great news for those looking to build or do other building work requiring a building consent.

'And for the anticipated $35.5 billion of work needing consent by 2021 in the construction pipeline report, that is over $9 million in savings for levy payers.”

The approved changes means that from July 1 2020, the levy rate will reduce to $1.75 including GST, for all building work that is over the $20,444 threshold.

'Further changes to building laws aimed at taking further costs out of the building system will be announced early next year,” says Anna.

This is the first change that will come into force as part of the largest reforms to the Building Act in over a decade.

The changes to the Building Act aim to address a number of long-standing problems which has been holding back the sector.

They focus on lifting the efficiency and quality of building work in New Zealand, and providing fairer outcomes if things go wrong.

More detail s on the changes are available on the Building Performance website.