WELLINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The overall volume of building activity rose a seasonally adjusted 6.2 percent in the March 2019 quarter, from the December 2018 quarter, the strongest growth in three years, New Zealand's statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.

"Growth in building activity this quarter was driven by non-residential construction, including work on social and cultural buildings, offices, and universities," construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said in a statement.

The volume of non-residential building activity rose 9 percent in the March 2019 quarter compared with the December 2018 quarter, while residential construction volumes rose 4.3 percent, McKenzie said.

The volume of building work has been generally increasing since 2012, boosted originally by the Canterbury earthquake rebuild starting after the deadly quake in 2011, and more recently by developments in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, McKenzie said.

The recent growth also reflected increases in paid hours for the construction industry, as shown in the latest quarterly employment survey data in the Labor market statistics, she said.