8731.0 - Building Approvals, Australia, Mar 2002
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/05/2002
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INTRODUCTION
3 The scope of the survey comprises the following:
4 Excluded from the statistics is construction activity not defined as building (e.g. roads, bridges, railways, earthworks, etc.). Statistics for this activity can be found in Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (Cat. no. 8762.0). 5 From July 1990, the statistics include:
VALUE DATA 6 Statistics on the value of building work approved are derived by aggregating the estimated ‘value of building work when completed’ as reported on building approval documents provided to local councils or other building approval authorities. Conceptually these value data should exclude the value of land and landscaping but include site preparation costs. These estimates are usually a reliable indicator of the completed value of ‘houses’. However, for ‘other residential buildings’ and ‘non-residential buildings’, they can differ significantly from the completed value of the building as final costs and contracts have not been established before council approval is sought and gained. 7 The ABS generally accepts values provided by approving bodies. Every effort is made to ensure data are provided on a consistent basis, however, there may be instances where value reported does not reflect the building completion value. For example, the reported value for most project homes is the contract price, which may include the cost of site preparation and landscaping. In other cases where a builder is contracted to construct a dwelling based on the owner’s plans, the value may only be the builder’s costs. Some councils do not use the value on approval documents, instead deriving a value based on floor area and type of structure. 8 From July 2000, value data includes the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for residential and non-residential building approvals. The ABS has consulted with councils and other approving authorities to ensure that approval values are reported inclusive of the GST. Where it was identified by a council or other approving authority that approvals submitted from its jurisdiction were on a GST-exclusive basis, the ABS made adjustments to the data to ensure that values were consistent with other data collected and were inclusive of GST. OWNERSHIP 9 Building ownership is classified as either public or private sector and is based on the sector of intended owner of the completed building at the time of approval. Residential buildings constructed by private sector builders under government housing authority schemes are classified as public sector when the authority has contracted, or intends to contract, to purchase the building on or before completion. BUILDING CLASSIFICATION 10 Building approvals are classified both by the Type of Building (e.g. ‘house’, ‘factory’) and by the Type of Work involved (e.g. ‘new’, ‘alterations and additions’ and ‘conversions’). These classifications are often used in conjunction with each other in this publication and are defined in the Glossary. 11 The Type of Building classification refers to the intended major function of a building. A building which is ancillary to other buildings or forms a part of a group of related buildings is classified to the function of the specific building, not to the function of the group as a whole. 12 An example is the treatment of building work approved for a factory complex. For instance, a detached administration building would be classified to Offices, a detached cafeteria building to Shops, while the factory buildings would be classified to Factories. An exception to this rule is the treatment of group accommodation buildings. For example, a student accommodation building on a university campus would be classified to Education. 13 In the case of a large multi-function building which, at the time of approval is intended to have more than one purpose (e.g. a hotel/shops/casino project), the ABS endeavours to split the approval details according to each main function. Where this is not possible because separate details cannot be obtained, the building is classified to the predominant function of the building on the basis of the function which represents the highest proportion of the total value of the project. 14 The Type of Work classification refers to the building activity carried out. Conversion jobs are shown separately in tables 5, 6, 12 and 15. However, in other tables they are included within existing categories, as follows: in tables 1 and 2 they are included in the appropriate Type of Building category, and in tables 3, 4 and 14 they are included in the ‘Alterations and additions to residential buildings’ category. SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT 15 Seasonal adjustment is a means of removing the estimated effects of seasonal variation from the series so that the effects of other influences can be more clearly recognised. 16 In the seasonal adjustment of series, account has been taken of both normal seasonal factors and ‘trading day’ effects arising from the varying numbers of Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, etc. in the month. Adjustment has also been made for the influence of Easter which may affect the March and April estimates differently. 17 Seasonal adjustment does not remove from the series the effect of irregular or non-seasonal influences (e.g. the approval of large projects or a change in the administrative arrangements of approving authorities). 18 Some of the component series have been seasonally adjusted independently. Therefore, the adjusted components may not add to the adjusted totals. 19 As happens with all seasonally adjusted series, the seasonal factors are reviewed annually to take account of each additional year’s data. The timing of this review may vary and when appropriate will be notified in the ‘Data Notes’ section of this publication. TREND ESTIMATES 20 Smoothing seasonally adjusted series reduces the impact of the irregular component of the seasonally adjusted series and creates trend estimates. For monthly series, these trend estimates are derived by applying a 13-term Henderson-weighted moving average to all months of the seasonally adjusted series except the last six months. Trend series are created for the last six months by applying surrogates of the Henderson moving average to the seasonally adjusted series. For the quarterly chain volume measures (table 14), the trend estimates are derived by applying a 7-term Henderson-weighted moving average to all quarters of the respective seasonally adjusted series except the last three quarters. Trend series are created for these last three quarters by applying surrogates of the Henderson moving average seasonally adjusted series. For further information, see Information Paper: A Guide to Interpreting Time Series-Monitoring ‘Trends’: an Overview (Cat. no. 1348.0) or contact the Assistant Director, Time Series Analysis on Canberra 02 6252 6076. 21 While the smoothing techniques described in paragraph 20 enable trend estimates to be produced for the latest few periods, they do result in revisions to the trend estimates as new data becomes available. Generally, revisions become smaller over time and, after three months, usually have a negligible impact on the series. Revisions to the original data and re-analysis of seasonal factors may also lead to revisions to the trend. 22 The ABS considered whether the introduction of the GST would cause a break in the trend series between June and July 2000 for building and construction value data. The ABS concluded that the data were unlikely to experience a significant one-off impact between June and July because values inclusive of GST had been gradually included in the series over that period. Therefore the trend value series was continued to be published as in the past. Users should, however, be cautious when analysing the most recent trend estimates as these are subject to revisions as new monthly data becomes available. CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES 23 The chain volume measures appearing in this publication are annually reweighted chain Laspeyres indexes referenced to current price values in a chosen reference year. The reference year is updated annually in the July issue of this publication. While current price estimates reflect both price and volume changes, chain volume estimates measure changes in value after the direct effects of price changes have been eliminated and hence only reflect volume changes. The direct impact of the GST is a price change, and hence is removed from chain volume estimates. Further information on the nature and concepts of chain volume measures is contained in the ABS publication Information Paper: Introduction of Chain Volume Measures in the Australian National Accounts (Cat. no. 5248.0). AUSTRALIAN STANDARD GEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION (ASGC) 24 Area statistics are now being classified to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001 Edition (Cat. no 1216.0), effective from July 2001. Building work approved before July 2001 was classified according to the current edition of the ASGC at that time, and is presented in this publication unrevised, in the original geographical area that applied at the time of approval. ABS DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST 25 As well as the statistics included in this and related publications, the ABS may have other relevant data available on request. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. RELATED PUBLICATIONS 26 Users may also wish to refer to the following publications:
27 While building approvals value series are shown inclusive of GST, this is different to building activity - Building Activity, Australia (Cat. no. 8752.0) and Construction Work Done, Australia, Preliminary (Cat. no 8755.0) - in which residential work will be published inclusive of GST and non-residential work exclusive of GST. In the Engineering Construction Survey - Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (Cat. no. 8762.0) all values will exclude GST. ROUNDING 28 When figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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