03 March 2011
Seasonally adjusted new private sector home approvals fell by 14.3 per cent in January, the largest single month fall since November 2002, according to the Urban Taskforce.
The Urban Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel said the size of the fall is attributable to a 31.6 per cent fall in Queensland, with more moderate falls in NSW (11.8 per cent); Victoria (5.1 per cent) and Western Australia (3.5 per cent).
Queenslands approvals numbers have been clearly hit by floods, but the reason for NSWs sharp decline relative to other states is less clear, Mr Gadiel said. NSW is continuing to approve just half the new dwellings of Victoria, and the latest drop will not be any comfort to homebuyers and renters battling to keep a roof over their heads.
Mr Gadiel said the trend figures – which smooth out the volatile monthly data makes it clear that there is no room for complacency about Australias housing supply.
Australia-wide, private sector new home approvals have trended negatively, for the second month in a row, Mr Gadiel said.
Mr Gadiel said that last week the Productivity Commission released a report validating the serious concerns regularly voiced by the development industry.
The report found that planning system suffering from overload, creates inefficiencies and is impacting on competition.
Australias lumbering town planning laws and its inefficient development levies are a key cause of housing supply crisis, Mr Gadiel said.
The planning system is causing urban congestion by preventing new homes and new workplaces being built where theyre needed.
The federal and state governments cannot afford any more delays on the reform of Australias housing supply.
Graphs are in the PDF below. The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
