Australian Property News

Building activity up in Victoria

Posted on Wednesday, December 07 2011 at 9:08 AM

Building permit activity is up by three per cent for the 10 months to October 31 compared to the same period one year ago, according to the Victorian Building Commission.

However on a monthly basis in October building permit activity was down by 13.5 per cent compared to the same period 12 months ago.

In the 10 months to October 31 five of the seven building use categories experienced growth, with hospital/health care up by 74 per cent, residential up by 61 per cent, retail (58 per cent growth), industrial (36 per cent jump), and commercial up by 16 per cent.

Domestic (houses) and public buildings experienced falls of 11 per cent and 27 per cent consecutively in the 10 months to the end of October, compared to the same period in 2010.

“When viewed on a regional basis, inner Melbourne continued to lead the way for building permit activity, with the value of building permits jumping 24 per cent to $9.1 billion from $7.3 billion,” said the Victorian Building Commission deputy building commissioner Neil Savery.

Savery said that inner Melbourne building permit growth contributed to an eight per cent lift in the metropolitan total over the 10-month period, compared to the same period 12 months earlier.

Greatest regional falls in building permit activity in the same 10-month period were experienced in northeast Victoria (down by 28 per cent), Gippsland (slid by 21 per cent), north central Victoria (fell by 11 per cent), south west (down by eight per cent), outer Melbourne (dropped by seven per cent) and north west Victoria (eased by two per cent).