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NSW home approval figures like Victoria in 1991

04 December 2008

New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today reveal that NSW home approval levels are at another record low with the situation being directly comparable to Victoria in 1991.

Less new homes were approved in NSW in October, and the 12 months to October, than ever before in the history of ABS record-keeping.

 

The Urban Taskforce chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said that, in seasonally adjusted terms, NSW monthly home approvals had fallen by 30 per cent in six months, compared with a 24 per cent fall in Queensland and a modest 5 per cent fall in Victoria.

 

The impact of credit rationing on NSW developers is most obvious in the apartment and town house sector where approvals have fallen by 38 per cent since March, Mr Gadiel said.

 

New house approvals have fallen by 22 per cent in the same period, although these figures understate the impact of credit crisis because they include knock-down and re-builds by private individuals.

 

In the 12 months to October 2008 only 29,532 homes were approved in NSW.

 

Thats the lowest rate of new home approvals since the ABS began keeping records on the subject in 1983.

 

The average annual rate of NSW home approvals over this period was 44,000.

 

While Queenslands approval figures are down at 39,264 in 12 months to October they are still well above previous lows of 2001 and 1986.

 

Victorias figures are still relatively robust at 41,907 which are well above their previous lows of 1991 and 1996.

 

NSWs annual rate of home approvals is 32 per cent below the average for all years covered in the ABS figures; comparable to Victorias low point in 1991 which was 30 per cent below the equivalent average at the time.

 

Mr Gadiel said the credit crisis has clearly hit NSW harder than any comparable state.

 

The credit crisis has put the NSW property development industry in a similar position to Victorias in 1991.

 

Reviving NSW development and construction needs to be a top priority for every level of government, Mr Gadiel said.

 

The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.


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