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HOUSING AND CONSTRUCTION

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DWELLING STRUCTURE

According to the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, on 8 August 2006, there were 189,100 occupied private dwellings in Tasmania. Of these, 86.2% were separate houses, 8.6% were flats, units or apartments and 4.2% were semi-detached row or terrace houses, townhouses etc.

Of the total dwellings, 48.5% were in the Greater Hobart-Southern region, 30.4% in the Northern Region, and 21.2% in the Mersey-Lyell Region. As might be expected, this corresponded broadly with the resident population in 2006, of which 49.3% were in Greater Hobart-Southern Region, 28.3% in the Northern Region and 22.4% in Mersey-Lyell.




NUMBER OF BEDROOMS IN OCCUPIED PRIVATE DWELLINGS


On Census night 2006, of the total occupied private dwellings in Tasmania, 19.4% had four or more bedrooms, 51.0% had three bedrooms, 19.8% had two bedrooms and 4.7% had one bedroom.




BUILDING APPROVALS

Residential

In 2007-08, there were 2,884 new residential buildings approved in Tasmania which is virtually unchanged on 2006-07 new residential approvals of 2,889.

The value of Tasmanian new residential buildings approved stood at $560.8 million. This was an increase of 6.8% on the 2006-07 figure and a 114.0% increase on the 2002-03 figure. Between 2003-04 and 2004-05, the value of new residential buildings approved in Tasmania decreased by 4.7%, but in the previous period 2002-03 to 2003-04 the value of new residential buildings approved increased by 76.4%.

NUMBER OF NEW BUILDING APPROVALS (residential), Tasmania	VALUE OF NEW BUILDING APPROVALS (residential), Tasmania

Non-residential

In 2007-08, the total value of new non-residential buildings approved was $502.7 million. This represented an increase of 26.1% on the total value of new non-residential buildings approved in 2006-07 and a 149.5% increase on the 2002-03 figure. While the total value of new non-residential buildings decreased from 2004-05 to 2005-06 by 12.6%, the previous period, 2003-04 to 2004-05, saw a marked increase of 72.2% from $188.1 million to $323.9 million.

VALUE OF NEW BUILDING APPROVALS (non-residential), Tasmania

Building approvals by Local Government Area

In 2007-08, the local government areas of Clarence and Kingborough recorded the highest number of new residential building approvals for Tasmania, (288 each or 9.8% of the Tasmanian total) followed by Launceston (242), and Glenorchy (193) which represented 8.2% and 6.6% respectively of the Tasmanian total.

For the Greater Hobart-Southern Region, the local government areas recording the largest share of new residential building approvals in 2007-08 were Clarence, and Kingborough, (18.1% of the total approvals for the region each), followed by Glenorchy (12.1%), and Huon Valley (11.2%).

For the Northern Region, the three local government areas with the highest proportion of building approvals in 2007-08 were Launceston (32.9%), West Tamar (22.5%), and Meander Valley (14.7%).

For the Mersey-Lyell Region, the three local government areas with the highest proportion of building approvals in 2007-08 were Devonport (23.7%), Latrobe (23.6%), and Central Coast (19.2%).




PROPERTY SALES

In 2007-08, the local government areas of Launceston (11.7%), Hobart (8.2%), and Clarence (8.1%) made the highest contribution to the total number of property sales in Tasmania.

In the Greater Hobart-Southern Region, the three local government areas recording the highest number of property sales in 2007-08 were Hobart, Clarence and Glenorchy with 17.1%, 16.9% and 15.6% respectively, of the total property sales in Greater Hobart-Southern Region.

In the Northern Region, the three local government areas recording the highest number of property sales in 2007-08 were Devonport (17.4%), Central Coast (16.8%), and Burnie (16.4%) of the total property sales in this region.

In the Mersey-Lyell Region, the three local government areas recording the highest number of property sales in 2007-08 were Launceston (41.9%), West Tamar (15.6%), and Meander Valley (12.5%).

The mean sales price for properties in Tasmania rose from $256,500 in 2006-07 to $286,900 in 2007-08, an increase of 11.8%.




EMPLOYMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Over the last five years the construction industry in Tasmania recorded a steady increase in the number of people employed. In 2007-08, there were 17,500 people working in the construction industry in Tasmania. This represented an increase of 4.8% on 2006-07, and 33.6% on 2003-04. In 2007-08, the Tasmanian construction industry employed 7.6% of the state's total employed persons.




For further details on the value of engineering construction in Tasmania, refer to the Industry section of this publication.


SOURCES

2006 Census of Population and Housing (ABS QuickStats)

Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (ABS cat. no. 1216.0)

Building Approvals, Australia (ABS cat. no. 8731.0)

Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania

Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (ABS cat. no. 6291.0.55.003)

Further information can also be found on the Housing Statistics Theme Page and the Construction Statistics Theme Page of the ABS website.