14 September 2011
New private sector residential construction starts have entered their fifth consecutive quarter of decline, according to trend figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.
The Urban Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said the number of construction starts on new private sector homes fell by a seasonally adjusted 3.8 per cent across Australia in the June quarter and, in trend terms, theyve fallen by 6.4 per cent since March 2010.
The recent construction starts on higher density homes nationwide have been relatively robust, Mr Gadiel said.
In fact, the June quarter saw construction commence on 13,100 new private sector apartments and townhouses, which is the highest such number ever recorded for that quarter by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
While there was a 7.1 per cent dip, in seasonally adjusted terms, this only partly reverses a 15.6 per cent surge in the previous quarter.
The strength of the last two quarters figures means that work started on 52,800 new private sector higher density homes over the course of the 2010/2011 financial year.
Thats the highest number of annual new private sector higher density home starts since 2002/2003, and the second highest ever.
Mr Gadiel said the picture was not so rosy for new houses, despite the apparently more moderate seasonally adjusted 2.1 per cent dip in seasonally adjusted private sector detached housing starts.
In the June quarter, Australia saw the lowest number of construction starts on new private sector homes for that quarter in ten years, Mr Gadiel said.
As a result, just 94,900 new private sector houses got under way in 2010/11, down 12.7 per cent on the previous years figure.
Mr Gadiel these figures reflect the ongoing difficulties developers have faced in getting land released on the edges of major urban areas.
Government continues to sell home-buyers short by failing to allocate enough money to fund urban growth infrastructure in outer suburban areas, he said.
As a result, overall construction of new private sector homes in 2010/11 was 14.1 per cent down on the previous years figure and 5.5 per cent down on the previous 10 years average.
Increased apartment and town house construction is welcome, and reflects changing community needs for more compact homes located close to key infrastructure, jobs and services.
But apartment development does not do away with the need for new master-planned suburbs at the edge of our growing cities.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
