Building For Housing Escalates as Confidence Grows

Peter Chandler MLA
MINISTER FOR HOUSING
MINISTER FOR LANDS, PLANNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Government action to slash red tape and speed up development application processes is reflected in a record number of residential building approvals, Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment, Peter Chandler, said today.

“There has been a 61.9 per cent growth in residential approvals over the year, pushing the Territory to its highest annual level for more than a decade.

“The results for March this year are startling – we had 199 approvals compared to only 30 in March a year ago, and in February approvals hit 261 compared to only 41 a year ago,” Mr Chandler said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics report shows the Territory growth stands out against the national trend, which records a decrease in the year to March.

“The boom in building shows that business has confidence in the way the Country Liberals Government is driving the economy and draws attention to the strengthening of population growth as more jobs are created.

“Delia’s former government let residential building slide, land availability lagged behind and housing approvals were drying up. We are turning this around.

“The Territory Government is continuing to invest in the roll-out of land, and will make thousands of lots available for home building,” Mr Chandler said.

In the year to March the number of approvals for houses increased 20.2 per cent to 774 with development in the new suburbs of Muirhead in Darwin and Bellamack and Johnston in Palmerston.

The report shows that a large amount of the growth in residential approvals is in a 98.5 per cent increase in approvals for units, townhouses and flats to 1,435 in the year.

Source: ProjectLink.com.au

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