1367.5 - Western Australian Statistical Indicators, Mar 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/04/2009   
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SECTION 9 CONSTRUCTION



Building approvals

  • There were 3,622 houses (trend) approved for construction in Western Australia in the three months to January 2009. This was 11% lower than the figure for the October 2008 quarter and the biggest fall through the year.
  • In proportional terms, there was an even larger fall in approvals for other residential dwellings including semi detached houses; townhouses and flats; units and apartments (trend). The number of approvals fell 40% in the January quarter to 548 dwellings.
  • Overall, the total number of dwellings approved (trend) decreased 16% in the January quarter.

NUMBER OF DWELLINGS APPROVED, Houses: Trend
Graph: NUMBER OF DWELLINGS APPROVED, Houses: Trend

28 BUILDING APPROVALS, By number of dwelling units approved and sector: Trend

Houses
Other dwellings
Total dwellings
Private
Total
Private
Total
Private
Total
Reference period
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.

2006-2007
19 165
19 622
4 413
5 000
23 577
24 622
2007-2008
16 702
17 233
5 344
5 905
22 045
23 137
2008
January
4 196
4 369
1 370
1 545
5 566
5 915
April
4 091
4 242
1 394
1 518
5 485
5 760
July
4 127
4 211
1 236
1 332
5 362
5 543
October
3 976
4 052
829
913
4 805
4 966
2009
January
3 571
3 622
466
548
4 038
4 170

Source: Building Approvals, Australia, cat. no. 8731.0.



Building activity
  • New residential building commencements declined by approximately 15% for the September quarter 2008. There was a very small increase (less than 0.3%) in buildings under construction while about 14% fewer new residential buildings were completed. The decline in commencements and completions was mainly due to slowing building activity on new houses.
  • In the year to September 2008, new residential building activity fell across all stages of production. The number of new houses commenced fell by more than 23%, while houses under construction and completed fell by 12% and 22% respectively.
  • Over the same period, building activity for other types of dwelling (apartments, units and other higher density accommodation) generally increased, with dwelling commencements for the September 2008 quarter being over 26% higher than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

29 BUILDING ACTIVITY, By number of dwelling units and stage of production: Original

New houses
New other residential building
Total residential building(a)
Reference period
no.
no.
no.

Commenced

2006-2007
19 896
4 752
24 647
2007-2008
16 924
5 347
22 272
2007
September
4 341
1 372
5 714
2008
June
4 597
1 362
5 959
September
3 327
1 733
5 060

Under construction at end of reference period

2006-2007
15 057
6 440
21 497
2007-2008
13 145
7 244
20 388
2007
September
14 323
6 520
20 843
2008
June
13 145
7 244
20 388
September
12 574
7 866
20 440

Completed

2006-2007
20 952
3 881
24 834
2007-2008
18 739
4 475
23 214
2007
September
5 016
1 286
6 302
2008
June
4 808
1 030
5 838
September
3 906
1 110
5 016

(a) Excludes total alterations and additions, refurbishments and conversions.
Source: Building Activity, Australia, cat. no. 8752.0.