New home approvals in Inner West drop in December

New data reveals building approvals are continuing to decline across the nation — and in the Inner West it’s a similar story. Here’s why.

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December’s new home approvals in the Inner West local government area dropped to 11 — 46 fewer than the same period in 2017, new ABS statistics show.

New home construction has hit a five-year low across Australia and recent figures suggest developer confidence in the Inner West may be faltering.

The value of approved residential construction work dropped to $8.8 million, pointing to a potential slowdown in the amount of work for Inner West’s legion of tradies.

Experts believe it can take as little as three months for new building approvals to flow through to construction jobs.

All construction work, including non-residential, in the Inner West totalled $14.3 million in December.

The report also revealed:

— all construction work, including non-residential, totalled $14.3 million;

— $6.6 million in renovation work was approved;

— houses accounted for 50 per cent of approved residential building projects.

The Inner West results come as residential development continues to decline across the country.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said housing approvals fell 8 per cent nationally between November and December as developer interest in units and townhouses dropped sharply for a second month.

Nationally, fewer than 14,000 new dwellings were approved based on seasonally adjusted figures.

December’s new home approvals in the Inner West dropped to 11 in December. Picture: Adam Yip

At the same time last year that number was more than 18,000.

Housing Industry Association principal economist Tim Reardon said the weak result was the consequence of a range of measures including record supply of apartments, falling house prices and the credit squeeze.

He said research also showed the time taken to get approval for a loan to build a new home had blown out from two weeks to two months.

“The slowdown in approvals will flow through to a slowdown in building activity on the ground later this year,” he said.

“We’ve long been anticipating the current downturn in new home building, but there is a risk it could develop more quickly and strongly than expected.”

The next batch of building approval figures will be released in March.