Victorian apartment building permits up 42% in 2011: Building Commission
Victoria’s penchant for building apartments over detached houses during the past decade has been confirmed in end-of-year figures released by Victorian Building Commission.
More than 2,500 building permits for non-detached housing were issued in 2011, the highest in 13 years of Victorian Building Commission data and 42% more than the 1,800 issued in 2010.
Non-detached building permits issued
Source: Victorian Building Commission
In comparison the permits issued for the building of detached houses has declined moderately from a peak of about 92,000 in 2001 to fewer than 90,000 in 2011.
Detached housing building permits issued
Source: Victorian Building Commission
Inner Melbourne remains the epicentre of new building, registering a 22.1% increase in building permits in 2011 to $10.8 billion – most of which would be for new apartments developments.
In comparison, detached housing permits declined by 10.5% to $12.3 billion, reflecting the current stagnant residential construction environment, with outer Melbourne registering a 9.1% decrease in the value of building permits to $8.6 billion.
Overall the value of building permit activity in Victoria in 2011 was a record $24.2 billion, an increase of 1.5% on 2010. However, the number of building permits issued during the year declined by 9.6% to 101,623, when compared to 2010.
There was a greater than expected seasonal decline in apartment building permits in December 2011 suggesting the rate of projects may be starting to slowdown.
The commission issued 168 apartment project building permits in December 2011 with a combined value of $204 million, compared with 351 permits issued in December 2010 worth $355 million.
Over 2011, the value of retail permits increased 48.2%t to $1.5 billion, industrial permits grew by 35.7% to $509 million and hospital/healthcare permits jumped by 55.7% to $860 million
Permits for the construction of public buildings decreased by 27.4%t to $2.3 billion.
The value of building permits activity in 2011 compared with 2010 in regions outside of Melbourne:
- Gippsland declined by 22.5% to $872 million
- North central fell 9.9% to $929 million
- North east decreased by 27.7% to $662 million
- North west was up by 0.6% to $891 million
- South west declined 8.3% to $1.5 billion
