All house builds in Australia have to be approved, by relevant government departments before building commences.
Consequently, figures are always available to keep us informed as to how many planning applications are in the pipeline, and so how many new building are expected in the near future.
Looking at the June to August quarter, the following numbers show the ‘seasonally adjusted’ planning approvals for each year listed here:
New South Wales:
- 1,846 Jun-2009
- 2,067 Jul-2009
- 2,474 Aug-2009
Total 6,387 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 7,140 in Jun-Aug 2008
Queensland:
- 2,139 Jun-2009
- 2,263 Jul-2009
- 2,301 Aug-2009
Total 6,703 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 8,884 in Jun-Aug 2008
South Australia:
- 968 Jun-2009
- 892 Jul-2009
- 1,025 Aug-2009
Total 2,885 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 3,613 in Jun-Aug 2008
Tasmania:
- 279 Jun-2009
- 229 Jul-2009
- 290 Aug-2009
Total 798 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 792 in Jun-Aug 2008
Victoria:
- 3,909 Jun-2009
- 4,299 Jul-2009
- 3,894 Aug-2009
Total 12,102 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 10,732 in Jun-Aug 2008
Western Australia:
- 1,880 Jun-2009
- 1,780 Jul-2009
- 1,804 Aug-2009
Total 5,464 for Jun-Aug 2009 compared to 5,417 in Jun-Aug 2008
Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory are not shown due to insufficient numbers to get a ‘seasonally adjusted’ figure.
The following chart shows annual approvals per state for the years ended June 1989, 1999 and 2009.
| Year | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | TAS |
| 1988/89 | 53,198 | 40,791 | 47,453 | 11,330 | 28,031 | 3,917 |
| 1998/99 | 52,404 | 39,771 | 30,348 | 7,885 | 20,618 | 1,424 |
| 2008/09 | 23,528 | 41,840 | 28,346 | 11,950 | 19,229 | 3,142 |
The above seems to show that New South Wales residential home approvals has dropped considerably.
Sources:
- 8731.0 – Building Approvals, Australia – www.abs.gov.au