South Australia on the cusp of huge building boom, highest approvals rate in nation

South Australia is leading the nation in building approvals and is on the verge of one its busiest period on record.

South Australia’s housing sector is on the cusp of one of its most successful periods on record, with statistics showing some approvals at the highest rate since 2010.

Australian Bureau of Statistics show SA recorded an 18.8 per cent jump in the number of approvals for units, houses, apartments and townhouses from October to November – to 1120. The jump was the highest in the nation.

It also predated an massive surge of applications taking advantage of the $25,000 Federal HomeBuilder subsidy, which dropped to $15,000 on January 1. The state’s 842 private housing approvals was the highest number since March 2010.

Master Builders SA chief executive Will Frogley – who on Wednesday talked up the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder program aimed at stimulating the construction sector through the coronavirus pandemic – said the new figures were yet another sign of a thriving residential building industry.

“What is even more pleasing is approvals should continue to go up over the coming months,” Mr Frogley said.

“There was a massive spike in HomeBuilder applications in December, and this work is yet to be reflected in the building approvals … numbers.”

He said the Federal Government had forecast 2000 South Australian homes would be built with the help of the HomeBuilder grant, but the number of applications was “rapidly approaching four times that number”.

“This could be the most successful building stimulus in South Australian history and the timing couldn’t be better,” he said.

“South Australians are snapping up a golden opportunity to build their dream home and, as a result builders, tradies and suppliers are absolutely flat out.”

SA’s approval numbers were well above the national average of 2.6 per cent.

Daniel Rossi, ABS director of construction statistics, said, across the country, approvals for private houses had surged 40 per cent since June.

“Federal and state housing stimulus measures and low interest rates have resulted in strong demand for detached dwellings,” Mr Rossi said.

The rise in total dwellings was led by South Australia (18.8 per cent), followed by Queensland (6.5 per cent) and New South Wales (1.5 per cent).

Falls were recorded in Western Australia (5.4 per cent), Victoria (4.6 per cent) and Tasmania (0.4 per cent).

Approvals for private sector houses rose in all states in November with Queensland (17.0 per cent) leading the nation, followed by Western Australia (7.5 per cent), South Australia (2.8 per cent), Victoria (1.5 per cent) and New South Wales (0.7 per cent).

The Advertiser revealed on Thursday South Australia had a massive spike in people applying for the $25,000 HomeBuilder grants before the New Year.

In the final five days of December, a whopping 1791 applications were received in SA before the grant amount dropped to $15,000 on January 1.

That means SA has now received more than 7640 applications for the grants, including 6123 for new builds and 1519 for major renovations.