Residential Construction High In NSW But Non-Residential Slowing Down: Urban Taskforce

The September Quarter Australian Bureau of Statistics construction figures for NSW indicate residential construction is strong but non-residential construction is slowing down, according to the Urban Taskforce.

“Our concern is that the non-residential construction results for the September Quarter have dropped to $1,870,773,000 from a high in June of $2,074,395,000,” Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson said.

“Residential construction in NSW is still strong but below Victoria’s performance.

“Construction figures are a good measure of work actually undertaken compared to development approvals that may or may not lead to actual construction and completion of the proposed development.

“The Urban Taskforce measure construction work completed on a per capita basis by dividing results by the population of the relevant state. On a per capita basis Victoria and Western Australia are well ahead of NSW and Queensland for total building value and for total residential value of construction.

“On a per capita basis Victoria spent $1,234 per person for all buildings while NSW spent $867 per person.

“The message from this data is that while NSW is doing well in building construction we can do better as demonstrated by Victoria’s strong performance. The key area that can help increase the amount of building construction in NSW is to simplify the NSW planning system, so that projects can move more quickly from submission of the development application to commencement of construction on site. We believe the Greater Sydney Commission could be the key that unlocks the slow NSW planning system.”

Graphs below based on ABS figures: