In a bid to ease high costs of building in New Zealand, the government will relax barriers to overseas products and adopt Australian standards.
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Plumbing products through Australia's WaterMark certification could be first off the rank as New Zealand chases a relaxation of regulatory settings.
"We have a major challenge. Our building costs have gone up 41 per cent In just the last five years across New Zealand," Prime Minister Chris Luxon said.
"Building a house here in New Zealand is now 50 per cent more expensive than it is in Australia and so that's why we are determined to actually open up overseas building products as we want to make it easier and cheaper to build.
"This is a win for potentially manufacturers in many different parts of the world."
On a tour of a house building company in Upper Hutt, north of Wellington, on Thursday, Mr Luxon said waitlists for approval of new products could take two years.
During the COVID pandemic, New Zealand's construction industry was hit hard by a plasterboard shortage, given only a local gib product - with 95 per cent produced by one manufacturer - was recognised by many authorities for use.
The result could be a boon for Australian manufacturers as a new market of 5.2 million people opens up with a major housing shortage and a government eager to see plenty of new builds.
Building Minister Chris Penk said changes to the Building Act would "increase the availability of high-quality affordable building products".
Reforms will include recognising building product standards from "trusted overseas jurisdictions", explicitly mentioning Australia, and "reputable certification schemes overseas".
"For example, the approval of one Australian scheme, WaterMark would allow us to have some 200,000 additional building plumbing products (that would be) considered safe and available for use in New Zealand," Mr Penk said.
"This is a major shake-up that will drive down the cost of building without compromising on quality, to make it easier and more affordable for people to build or renovate a home."
The government has also exempted projects worth $NZ65,000 ($A59,500) from the building levy and consents in its regulatory bonfire.
Other ministers have suggested the adoption of Australian standards in other areas - such as medicines approval - to ease bottlenecks in the Kiwi system.
Australian Associated Press
