100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Statewide building approvals down as construction times blow out

Do you have a news tip? Click here to send to our news team.

Unheralded Sunshine Coast suburb set to boom

A relatively unknown Sunshine Coast suburb is predicted to become the next "hot" spot for real estate in the region. Rosemount is a rural locality More

Roadworks underway in bid to ease traffic congestion

Works are progressing to increase the capacity of the road network around a booming part of the Sunshine Coast. Night works at the intersection of More

Adventure playground closed for clean-up and repairs

A popular children’s playground is off-limits going into the school holidays following the recent big wet. The Hinterland Adventure Playground in Marara Street, Cooroy, was More

Future of electric vehicles arrives on the Coast

The electric vehicle revolution has landed on the Sunshine Coast as Pacific Motor Group welcomes one of the world’s fastest-growing and most innovative automotive More

Photo of the day: wall of water

“Wappa Dam spill after a break in the seemingly endless rain. The roar of the water had to be heard to be believed,” writes More

Site sold for almost $13m, Tesla dealership rumoured

One of the last undeveloped sites along a main inner-city road has been sold and could be home to a Tesla showroom. Lot 409 Flinders More

The Sunshine Coast has bucked a downward trend for new home construction, as statewide dwelling approvals fall well short of what’s needed to meet Queensland’s housing needs.

Increased demand for new detached houses saw Sunshine Coast dwelling approvals increase 12 per cent over the past three months. But across the year, approvals on the Coast were down 20 per cent.

The Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Wide Bay were the only regions to record growth in dwelling approvals over the past three months, and all regions in Queensland reported negative growth over the past 12 months.

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for September shows a 12-month total of 34,060 new dwellings approved across Queensland. This represents an eight per cent drop and is well short of the 48,000 homes needed each year to meet Queensland’s share of the national five-year target of 1.2 million homes.

Master Builders CEO Paul Bidwell said it was a tall order for the industry to deliver the housing targets and meet the needs of the massive construction program underway in Queensland while continuing to deal with delays and cost hikes.

“Back in 2016, we built 50,000 new homes in a year, so it can be done,” he said.

“But looking to the future, the current pipeline of new housing is just 34,000 dwellings approved in the 12 months to September 2023. This is well short of where we need to be.”

The construction industry employs more than 22,000 people on the Sunshine Coast.

In a press release, Master Builders said the shortage of approvals was exacerbated by the time taken to complete construction.

According to ABS data, during 2022-23 the average time from commencement to completion for new apartments in Queensland increased by six months to 26 months, while the average time for new houses increased by one month to eight months.

Meanwhile, non-residential approvals have surged to an unprecedented high of $19.3 billion, as the government’s massive capital works program gets underway.

“It’s housing that is languishing, while non-residential is keeping the industry buoyant with the massive government capital works program,” Mr Bidwell said.

“It is essential we keep building homes or the housing crisis will worsen. To do this, we need to ensure new home construction costs are kept in check and ensure the industry isn’t held back by unnecessary red tape and inefficiency.”

Subscribe to our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email at the bottom of this article.

Subscribe to SCN’s free daily news email

Hidden
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
[scn_go_back_button] Return Home
Share