The February data on housing approvals indicates a continuing fall in NSW from June 2015, says the Urban Taskforce.
“June 2015 was a high point for NSW housing approvals with a total of 5,921 adjusted for trend but this number has fallen since then to 5,036 in February 2016,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “While 5,000 approvals in a month is still a healthy number the fact that there has been a drop of 900 approvals indicates a worrying trend.”
“The downward trend is even more apparent in the value of non-residential building approvals which has dropped from a high of $822,880,000 in September 2015 to $590,168,000 in February 2016. This a drop of $200 million a month compared to Victoria rising by $300 million over the same period.”
“NSW has clearly been in boom time for the last few years as can be seen by the number of cranes across Sydney but it appears that the supply chain as evidenced by approvals is slowing down. Drops of 15% to 20% over half a year are significant and the trend needs careful monitoring.”
“The Urban Taskforce is concerned that the transition process with council amalgamations may be slowing down approvals as more than one council debates the merits of planning proposals. Approvals for job creating projects in the Western Sydney Employment Lands seem to be on hold while governments resolve infrastructure issues.”
“The Greater Sydney Commission must carefully monitor the trends for housing and jobs approvals and ensure that the planning system is supporting increased supply. The Department of Planning’s targets of an average of 33,200 new homes a year has not been reached yet with last financial year housing completions of 27,348.”
See below Home Approvals NSW & Non- residential Building Approvals by State graphs based on ABS figures:
