NSW Construction Strong But Behind Victoria Per Capita

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures for construction work done in the December 2017 quarter shows NSW with a strong performance but behind Victoria on a per capita basis, says the Urban Taskforce.

“The NSW construction workflow is still strong but dipping below Victoria on a per capita basis,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson.

“While NSW looks strong on the amount of expenditure when this is divided by the population of each state Victoria is doing better.”

“Total residential, seasonally adjusted, building construction for Victoria for the December Quarter was $818 million per person while the NSW expenditure was $780 million a person. In the non- residential sector NSW expenditure was $295 million a person compared to Victoria’s $354 million per person.”

“The total building expenditure per person for NSW was $1,158 million compared to Victoria at $1,293 million.”

“Clearly both NSW and Victoria have done well with building construction over the last year. The Urban Taskforce, however, is concerned that approvals are dropping particularly for new housing projects and that this will inevitably flow into a slowdown in future construction and the multitude of jobs that flow from this.”

“The Urban Taskforce urges the NSW Government to continue the strong building approval process and to be careful with extra levies on new housing projects that some councils are proposing for  affordable housing.”

See below graphs based on ABS figures: