31 August 2010
Last months Australian private sector housing approvals, released today, were the strongest July figures since 2004, according to the Urban Taskforce. The Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said that seasonally adjusted private sector housing approvals increased by 2.3 per cent across Australia in July.
The increase was concentrated in Victoria where private sector home approvals increased by a seasonally adjusted 11.4 per cent. NSW saw a modest increase of just 0.5 per cent and Queensland saw a 9.3 per cent fall, Mr Gadiel said.
The situation in Queensland is serious and should alarm the Queensland government.
NSW is not getting anywhere near the level of private approvals required to address its very serious under-performance relative to other states.
NSW saw 2,700 private sector home approvals in July, compared with Victorias record high of 5,700, Mr Gadiel said.
This is a record for Victoria theyve never had a better July for private sector home approvals.
Clearly, the problems of high development levies and inefficient planning processes are hitting NSW and Queensland hard, while Victoria is reaping the benefits of low levies and more clear-cut decision-making processes.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
Note: Further illustrative graphs are in the PDF available below.
