8731.0 - Building Approvals, Australia, Dec 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/01/2003   
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Feature Article - Inner City Development


This article was published in Building Approvals, Australia (Cat. no 8731.0) Dec, 2002


INTRODUCTION

This article examines changes in residential development over the last fifteen years in inner areas of selected Australian capital cities. The data presented on dwellings approved were obtained from the Building Approvals Collection. Data on the stock of dwellings and population were obtained from the Census of Population and Housing of 1991 and 2001.


DEFINITIONS

Building Approvals data is presented by Australian Capital City Statistical Divisions and Inner City areas. Inner cities have been defined using the 2002 Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC) (cat. 1216.0) Statistical Local Area's (SLA):
Inner Sydney - 7070 South Sydney (C), 7201 Sydney (C) Inner, 7202 Sydney (C) Remainder, 5950 North Sydney (A)
Inner Melbourne - 4601 Melbourne (C) Inner. 4605 Melbourne (C) Southbank-Docklands, 4608 Melbourne (C) Remainder.
Inner Brisbane - 1143 City Inner, 1146 City Remainder, 1228 Fortitude Valley Inner, 1233 Fortitude Valley Remainder, 1304 Kangaroo Point, 1421 Newfarm, 1427 Newstead, 1525 South Brisbane, 1528 Spring Hill.
Inner Adelaide - 0070 Adelaide (C).
Inner Perth - 7081 Perth (C) Inner, 7082 Perth (C) Remainder.


TOTAL RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS

Building approvals data show a trend of growth in building approvals for residential dwellings in inner city areas of many Australian cities. In Inner Sydney, approvals for residential dwellings were below 6% of all residential approvals in the Sydney Statistical Division for the five year period between 1987 and 1992. In 1992-1993, the proportion of all dwellings in the inner city to the capital city rose to 9.7%. This growth in residential approvals is sustained through to 2001-2002 where residential approvals totalled 5,120 in Inner Sydney, 16% of approvals for Sydney as a whole.

DWELLING APPROVALS IN INNER CITY AND CAPITAL CITY
Inner Sydney
Capital Sydney
Proportion
(no.)
(no.)
%
1987-1988
642
27,131
2.4
1988-1989
898
26,877
3.3
1989-1990
584
19,702
3.0
1990-1991
976
18,762
5.2
1991-1992
338
21,606
1.6
1992-1993
2,586
26,705
9.7
1993-1994
2,361
29,038
8.1
1994-1995
4,730
33,661
14.1
1995-1996
3,454
27,226
12.7
1996-1997
4,853
32,223
15.1
1997-1998
4,419
35,809
12.3
1998-1999
3,784
35,766
10.6
1999-2000
3,506
33,547
10.5
2000-2001
2,851
22,560
12.6
2001-2002
5,120
31,865
16.1


The growth in approvals for residential dwellings is also evident in Inner Melbourne where approvals were 1% or less of all residential approvals in the Melbourne Statistical Division until 1992-93. This rose to 5% in 1993-94, and has generally risen in later years to just over 10% in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

While approvals for residential dwellings in Inner Brisbane show greater fluctuation, growth in approvals in the inner areas increased in comparison to the Brisbane Statistical Division since 1994-1995, with more sustained growth evident in the last 3 years. In 2001-2002, 14% of residential approvals in the capital city were for Inner Brisbane.

Although the number and proportion of inner city residential approvals in Adelaide and Perth are not as substantial, growth in these approvals is also apparent.

DWELLING APPROVALS IN INNER CITY AND CAPITAL CITY
Inner
Melbourne
Capital
Melbourne
Proportion

Inner
Brisbane
Capital
Brisbane
Proportion

(no.)
(no.)
%
(no.)
(no.)
%
1987-1988
52
22,556
0.2
1987-1988
46
12,265
0.4
1988-1989
105
26,663
0.4
1988-1989
478
16,972
2.8
1989-1990
134
18,110
0.7
1989-1990
148
13,138
1.1
1990-1991
128
14,315
0.9
1990-1991
71
12,369
0.6
1991-1992
206
17,107
1.2
1991-1992
119
17,619
0.7
1992-1993
243
1,839
1.2
1992-1993
340
20,726
1.6
1993-1994
1,140
22,894
5.0
1993-1994
655
21,995
3.0
1994-1995
1,757
23,098
7.6
1994-1995
1,515
18,968
8.0
1995-1996
978
17,314
5.6
1995-1996
608
12,918
4.7
1996-1997
1,898
21,078
9.0
1996-1997
916
14,822
6.2
1997-1998
1,104
28,152
3.9
1997-1998
1,685
16,798
10.0
1998-1999
2,230
30,614
7.3
1998-1999
466
13,552
3.4
1999-2000
3,453
39,015
8.9
1999-2000
1,078
15,829
6.8
2000-2001
2,958
27,855
10.6
2000-2001
1,514
12,258
12.4
2001-2002
3,873
37,283
10.4
2001-2002
2,357
16,642
14.2

Graph - Total residential building, Proportion of inner city to capital city


Graph - Total residential building, proportion of inner city to capital city


OTHER RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS

Most of the residential dwelling approvals in inner city areas are for other residential buildings (e.g. semi-detached dwellings and flats, units and apartments) with the majority of these being in buildings of 4 or more storeys. Data for inner cities clearly show a growth in these approvals.

In Inner Sydney there was a marked increase in other residential dwelling approvals from 1992-1993, where approvals rose to 2,551. Since then, building approvals of this type has continued to grow, rising to 5,060 in 2001-2002. Similarily, a rise in other residential approvals in Inner Melbourne occurred in 1993-1994,when they numbered 1,113 rising to 3,821 in 2001-2002.

In Inner Brisbane the first significant increase in other residential dwelling approvals occurred in 1994-1995 where they numbered 1,505.
The main increase in other residential approvals in Inner Adelaide has occurred over the last four years. Inner Perth has also shown an increase from 1993-94.

NUMBER OF APPROVALS FOR OTHER RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS IN INNER CITIES
Inner Sydney
Inner Melbourne
Inner Brisbane
Inner Adelaide
Inner Perth
(no.)
(no.)
(no.)
(no.)
(no.)
1987-1988
598
39
38
69
31
1988-1989
850
76
463
118
106
1989-1990
536
102
132
267
106
1990-1991
932
128
71
141
32
1991-1992
310
161
108
148
149
1992-1993
2,551
153
324
157
197
1993-1994
2,292
1,113
640
100
410
1994-1995
4,669
1,737
1,505
220
202
1995-1996
3,406
953
598
103
364
1996-1997
4,790
1,818
900
55
185
1997-1998
4,364
996
1,670
196
226
1998-1999
3,740
2,136
452
336
548
1999-2000
3,463
3,352
1,052
300
693
2000-2001
2,819
2,912
1,496
307
740
2001-2002
5,060
3821
2,318
267
361


STOCK OF DWELLINGS

The table below shows the total stock of dwellings enumerated in the Census of Population and Housing 1991 and 2001 for both inner city areas and capital city statistical divisions. All five of the main capital cities have seen an increase in the proportion of dwelling stock in inner city areas, highlighting residential growth in these inner cities. For example, in 1991 the stock of dwellings in inner Sydney was 5.2% of all dwellings in the Sydney Statistical Division. This rose to 6.2% in 2001.

STOCK OF DWELLINGS(a), 1991 and 2001 Census: Inner cities and capital cities
1991
2001
Inner City
Capital City
Proportion
Inner City
Capital City
Proportion
(no.)
(no.)
%
(no.)
(no.)
%
Sydney
68,579
1,313,885
5.2
96,269
1,546,691
6.2
Melbourne
14,086
1,144,094
1.2
26,982
1,344,624
2.0
Brisbane
10,352
487,121
2.1
17,872
642,106
2.8
Adelaide
5,563
403,350
1.4
7,334
458,002
1.6
Perth
2,426
434,368
0.6
5,170
552,006
0.9
(a) Includes occupied and unoccupied dwellings.


The proportion of the population residing in inner city areas has also increased in all of the five main capital cities between 1991 and 2001, with the largest proportional growth (0.8 percentage points) occurring in inner Sydney.

TOTAL POPULATION(a), 1991 and 2001 Census: Inner cities and capital cities
1991
2001
Inner City
Capital City
Proportion
Inner City
Capital City
Proportion
(no.)
(no.)
%
(no.)
(no.)
%
Sydney
119,323
3,432,737
3.5
167,342
3,869,344
4.3
Melbourne
25,970
2,948,655
0.9
48,846
3,277,809
1.5
Brisbane
17,669
1,292,373
1.4
28,724
1,574,327
1.8
Adelaide
8,884
992,286
0.9
11,188
1,037,671
1.1
Perth
3,245
1,107,389
0.3
7,318
1,296,981
0.6
(a)enumerated in private dwellings only.


Further Information: For more information on this topic contact Roger Mableson on (08) 8237 7494.