PHOTO: MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF – Labour costs were a big part of the year-on-year increase in building cost.

Pay rises for construction workers have boosted the cost of building a house over the past year.

New statistics from QV show the average cost of building a house in one of New Zealand’s main centres rose an average 2.7 per cent in the year to October. It now costs 27.4 per cent more than it did in the last peak, of 2007.

The rate of growth has slowed from 3.5 per cent in May, which QV said could reflect the impact of slower growth in Christchurch.

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