Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 20—Construction 735
More detailed information on the value of
residential and non-residential building work
done, in chain volume terms, is presented in
table 20.8. The value of building work done rose
by $2,222m (7%) to $34,290m in 1998–99,
following a rise of 10% in 1997–98. The 1998–99
growth occurred in most sectors, with the value
of non-residential building and other residential
building both contributing around 30% of the
increase. The value of house building contributed
27% of the growth.
Residential building
Residential building involves the construction of
dwelling units, which comprise new houses, new
other residential buildings (flats, apartments, villa
units, townhouses, duplexes, etc.), and dwellings
created as part of alterations and additions to
existing buildings (including conversions to
dwelling units) and as part of the construction of
non-residential buildings.
The trend in total dwelling unit approvals grew
for three and half years from February 1991,
peaking in July 1994 (graph 20.9). The trend then
declined until December 1995, to a level almost
40% below the July 1994 peak. The trend for
dwelling units approved was relatively flat
between December 1995 and June 1996 prior to
strong growth until April 1998. Growth was
relatively flat during 1998–99.
During the first half of 1999–2000 there was a
significant increase in approvals as a result of
activity brought forward ahead of the Goods and
Services Tax. However, since December 1999
approvals have declined sharply to a level below
those of late 1995.
20.8 BUILDING ACTIVITY, Value of Work Done by Type of Activity, Chain Volume Measures(a)
New residential building
Houses
Other residential
buildings
Total
Alterations and
additions to
residential
buildings
Non-residential
building
Total building(b)
$m
$m $m
$m
$m
$m
1992–93 10 805 3 474 14 591 2 331 10 381 27 385
1993–94 11 675 4 074 16 079 2 467 9 985 28 700
1994–95 11 558 4 766 16 574 2 687 10 849 30 262
1995–96 9 209 3 932 13 353 2 590 12 184 28 131
1996–97 9 158 3 911 13 229 2 588 13 281 29 065
1997–98 10 996 4 540 15 728 3 011 13 329 32 068
1998–99 11 605 5 200 17 080 3 194 14 016 34 290
(a) Reference year for chain volume measures is 1997–98. (b) Chain volume measures are generally not additive—for most
periods, the component measures do not sum to a total in the same way as the corresponding current price components do.
Source: Building Activity, Australia (8752.0).
20.9 NUMBER OF DWELLING UNITS APPROVED, Trend Estimates
Total
Houses
Other residential
'000
20
15
10
5
Jun
1990
Jun
1992
Jun
1994
Jun
1996
Jun
1998
Jun
2000
0
Source: Building Approvals, Australia (8731.0).