2 February 2012
New figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of the latest building approval figures show a worrying downward trend for NSW, since the OFarrell government was elected, in the approval of apartments and of non-residential buildings, says the Urban Taskforce.
Maybe its a coincidence but the figures seem to peak at the time of the state election in March 2011 and have headed downwards sharply since, for apartment approvals and non- residential approvals. said Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson
In early 2011 apartment approvals were running at 1,545 a month and this has collapsed to 1,067 a month.
The non-residential sector has also collapsed since early 2011, where monthly approvals were valued at $617 million to $425 million one year later. The worrying part of this, is that there is no sign of an upturn in the high density home sector or the non-residential building sector.
Both sectors have gone down by a third over the last year Mr Johnson said
The good news is that individual houses seem to have stabilised over the last year and are being approved at a steady rate, although far lower than Victorias.
With submissions due soon on SEPP 65, the planning policy that influences apartment designs, we believe the focus needs to move to using the planning system to increase supply. Mr Johnson said….. Clearly design quality for apartments is important but we also need far more of this building type but it is getting harder to get approvals from local councils.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group representing Australia’s most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
