Australia sees increase in construction approvals

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released a report that shows an increase of construction approvals in October this year.

The total number of residential buildings approved across Australia in October grew to 19,652, of which 9,349 were private houses. This is an increase of 12.3 per cent compared to October last year, and a 3.9 per cent increase from September last month.

“The 19,652 building approvals recorded in October are heading back towards peak territory of 20,000 recorded earlier this year,” describes Property Council of Australia Executive Nick Proud.

“Property is Australia’s largest industry, contributing more to GDP than any other and strong residential construction activity helps underpin the 1.1 million jobs the industry creates.”

This also follows an ABS report showing that home loans for newly constructed dwellings increased across Australia by 1.3 per cent in September 2015 from August 2015.

South Australia wins out

Median house prices in metropolitan Adelaide have reached their highest ever recorded value by the government of South Australia at $428,250.

However, South Australia has had the most significant increase in housing approvals according to the ABS report with a 23.4 per cent increase in approvals from last month. Nick Proud explains that this new housing supply will result in an “improvement in… affordability”.

This is likely to be a relief to those residents of Adelaide currently looking to buy.

In addition to these approval gains, the Property Council of Australia has reported some worrying drops in certain states.

Queensland has suffered a 28.7 per cent drop in home approvals in October compared to the previous month. However, the yearly difference remains robust, with an increase of 23.6 per cent from October last year.

With this generally positive trend of approval for new residences, Australia will hope to see a slew of brand new residences for sale, and house prices dropping accordingly.