Penk moves to open building product markets with ‘good dose of competition’

Sunday, 27 July 2025

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says that by making it easier to import building products from Europe, the US and Australia, it will become cheaper to build in New Zealand.

The Government is prying open the market for building materials, by opening the door to a large range of products already certified in some other countries.

The move is designed to protect New Zealand from product shortages, last seen with the 2022 Gib shortage that saw a sixfold increase in prices. The Government also hopes that construction costs will decrease across the board, as a wider range of supplies won’t need to be re-tested for use in New Zealand.

Construction Minister Chris Penk said it was “frankly outrageous”, how expensive it was to build in New Zealand.

“It is 50% more expensive to build a standalone home in New Zealand than in Australia,” he said.

The Government first started looking to simplify standards for imported building materials early last year. Since then, officials have been looking at which countries were effectively meeting the same standards expected here.

On Sunday, Penk confirmed that products like Gib certified for use in the UK, Australia and US would waved through for building in New Zealand.

“This has the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars when building a home.

With Construction Minister Chris Penk, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced it will be easier to import building products from Europe, the US and Australia, it will become cheaper to build in New Zealand.

“For example, New Zealand has some of the most expensive plasterboard in the world. Kiwis pay 38% more than Australia for plasterboard, 47% more than the UK and 67% more than the US for the same products,” he said.

“This Government is pulling every lever it has to drive economic growth and building materials is one of many areas where a good dose of competition might do the trick,” Penk said.

The changes would be made via a new specification document. In effect, products from approved countries would be automatically OKedfor use in New Zealand - provided they were used for their intended purpose.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Construction Minister Chris Penk have confirmed how the Government will get more construction material into New Zealand.

On Monday the Government will release the first version of the Building Product Specifications document which lists international standards for products like plasterboard, cladding, insulation, windows, doors and glazing.

These changes comes ahead of Australian Watermark plumbing products (the Australian plumbing standard) being automatically approved for use in New Zealand later in the year.

It is the latest in a much broader set of reforms being made across the building sector, including, as reported in the Sunday Star-Times, that the Building Code will be frozen for three years.

Plasterboard is a key structural material in most New Zealand timber frame houses and many other buildings.

Ministers confirmed changes to import rules for building material during a press conference in Auckland.

The previous Government even set up a plasterboard taskforce to try to deal with the 2022 Gib shortage.

Winstone Wallboards - a subsidiary of Fletcher Building - produces 97% of plasterboard in New Zealand, which is almost universally known by its product name - Gib. Since the Gib shortage, a large new manufacturing facility in Tauranga in 2023 has got up and running.

According to MBIE figures, plasterboard in New Zealand (which is almost always Gib) costs $11.55 per square metre, compared with $8.38 in Australia, $7.87 in the UK, $6.89 in Canada and $6.96 in the United States.

A Commerce Commission study into building materials released in 2022, highlighted the market concentration of Gib, and noted that more broadly, the regulatory system around approving building materials inhibited competition.