2 August 2011
New report shows how vital building will be to NSWs recovery
Its appalling to think that NSW is vying with flood-ravaged Queensland for the bottom spot in the latest CommSec economic league table, according to the Urban Taskforce. According to reports this morning, CommSecs latest report NSW is now slipping below previously weak states such as South Australia and Tasmania.
The quarterly report puts the NSW economy last or near last on most of the measures assessed by the stockbroker, and a narrow second-last to Queensland overall.
According to the report, NSW is 17 per cent below the decade average, whereas the leader, the Australian Capital Territory, is 80 per cent above it.
The Urban Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said this report highlights how vital it is to kick-start home building in NSW.
The price the state is paying for the absence of new construction is just far too high, Mr Gadiel said.
Mr Gadiel said that he was concerned by recent home approval statistics that suggested the situation was getting worse, rather than better.
Approval numbers are strong indicators of likely construction activity in around 18 months time, he said.
NSWs rate of private sector home approvals have plunged by a seasonally adjusted 27 per cent in the two months following March this year, according Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures.
A 15 per cent slump in NSWs private sector home approvals in May, on top of a 14 per cent fall in April, had given us NSWs second worst May approval figure in ABS record-keeping history.
Theres been a 50 per cent drop in seasonally adjusted approvals for apartment and town houses in just two months.
Victoria managed to approve 50 per cent more apartments and townhouses in May than NSW, and nearly double the number of houses.
While NSWs just experienced its second worst May private sector home approval figure in statistical history Victoria still recorded its second May ever.
In the light of these figures, the NSW Government may need to bring forward its plans to reform the states planning system and development levies.
If these numbers do not improve, the states housing supply and construction workforce may face greater difficulties in the not too distant future.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
