CONSTRUCTION


BUILDING APPROVALS

The number of dwelling units approved in South Australia has fallen for the fifth consecutive month with 1,005 approvals recorded in September 2010. This represents a decrease of 3.7% over the estimate for August (1,044), but is 2.7% higher than at the same time in the previous year (979). Nationally, the number of dwelling units approved has fallen for the seventh consecutive month. The estimate of 12,431 in September 2010 is 19.2% below the peak recorded earlier in the year (15,376 approvals in February 2010).

The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses approved in South Australia fell to 677 in September 2010. Private sector house approvals as a proportion of total dwelling units has risen in the last three months from a low of 64.0% in June 2010 to 67.4% in September 2010.

In the year to September 2010, the total number of dwelling units approved in South Australia rose 12.6% over the previous year. Increases were recorded in six of the seven Statistical Divisions (SD) with the largest increase in the Murray Lands SD (up 79.6%). This follows a 21.0% decrease for this SD during the year ended September 2009.

DWELLING UNITS APPROVED, by Statistical Division, Original, South Australia
	Year ended September 2009		Year ended September 2010
	Dwelling units	Change over previous year	Dwelling units	Change over previous year
	no.	%	no.	%
Adelaide	8 066	-14.8	8 865	9.9
Outer Adelaide	1 498	-16.1	1 749	16.8
Yorke and Lower North	499	-20.9	515	3.2
Murray Lands	417	-21.0	749	79.6
South East	386	-30.2	398	3.1
Eyre	239	-27.1	279	16.7
Northern	372	-28.9	370	-0.5
South Australia	11 477	-16.9	12 925	12.6
Source: Building Approvals, Australia - data available on request

Map of South Australia's Statistical Divisions (PDF 3.083MB)


CONSTRUCTION WORK DONE

In the June quarter 2010, the total value of building work done (in trend terms) in South Australia rose to $1,297.9m, an increase of 4.2% over the March quarter 2010.

Between the December quarters 2007 and 2009, the trend estimate for the value of engineering work done rose sharply ($627.5m to $1,268.0m). Since this time, the value of engineering work has fallen to $1,241.6m in the June quarter 2010. The $14.6m drop over the last quarter sees the value of engineering work done fall below the value of building work for the first time since the March quarter 2009.

The upsurge in engineering construction between the December quarters 2007 and 2009 was the focus of the feature article presented in the April 2010 issue of SA Stats.