Gold Coast tradies score win from $162.8m in new home approvals

Gold Coast tradies will benefit from the latest batch of building approvals, with hundreds of new homes given the go-ahead by council.

Gold Coast tradies will benefit from the latest batch of building approvals with $162.8 million in new homes given the go-ahead by council.

Figures released today show 465 new homes received the green light in October, bringing the total of approved residential building projects to 5634 for the year.

Up to October, units made up most of the building approvals (45.7 per cent) for the year. Houses accounted for 37.7 per cent.

An estimated $18.9 million of renovation work was also given the go-ahead.

An aerial view of residential housing on the Gold Coast. Picture: AAP

The news is not all good, however.

The national October figures are adding to concerns of an overall slowdown in home construction.

Compared to the same time last year, the number of dwelling approvals across Australia dropped 13.4 per cent on seasonally adjusted figures.

The same comparison for Queensland shows a 13.3 per cent decline.

Housing Industry Association acting principal economist Geordan Murray said the impact of the results could be felt in as little as three months, or as much as 18 months in high-activity areas.

He said in areas with ‘softer numbers’, builders might have current work but they’re probably less likely to have projects on the books to sustain work further out.

“If there’s fewer new homes being built there’s fewer slabs being laid, if there’s fewer slabs being laid there’s fewer frames being erected, and so on through all of the trades,” he said.

Bricklayer Kalleum Paraone works at a house in Pimpama. Picture: Jono Searle.

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“It will go through plasterers, electricians, plumbers – all those trades that would typically go from one job to the next – at the moment they’ll probably have less certainty about when that next project is going to be.”

Gold Coast appeared to buck the trend in the latest reported period.

In October last year, 316 new homes were approved, with a total value of $94.6 million.

This means 149 more homes got the go-ahead in the same period this year, an increase of 47.2 per cent.

The next batch of building approval figures is set to be released in January.

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