Building permit activity in Victoria in the 11 months of the 2010-11 financial year to the end of May was valued at $22 billion - one per cent higher than the level achieved in the same period the previous financial year ($21.8 billion).

Releasing the Building Commission ´pulse´ data today, the acting Building Commissioner, Peter Donald, said the higher financial year-to-date level was achieved even though the value of building permit activity for the month of May 2011 was two per cent lower than May 2010.

“The solid financial year-to-date building permit activity is a positive result for the Victorian building industry, particularly with five of the seven building use categories recording growth when compared to the same 11 months of the previous financial year,” Donald said.

“Residential, which includes high rise apartments, was the standout category, with the value of building permit activity surging 70 per cent to $2.9 billion.

Domestic (housing) building permit activity remained steady when compared with the same period last financial year, creeping up 0.6 per cent to a value of $12 billion.

”Donald said there was a 33 per cent decrease in the value of building permits for Public Buildings in the 11 months to the end of May 2011, reflecting the ongoing wind-down of Government stimulus programs over the period.

The other building use to record a decline was Commercial, which was five per cent below the same period in the 2009-10 financial year.

On a regional basis, Inner Melbourne was the only region to record a rise in building permit activity, improving 11 per cent to $8.9 billion.

The falls in building permit activity ranged from 0.3 per cent for Outer Melbourne to 18 per cent for the North East region in rural Victoria.

By building use, building permit figures for the 2010-11 financial year-to-date to the end of May 2011 compared with the same period last financial year show:

  • Domestic (housing) rose 0.6 per cent to $12 billion
  • Residential (including high rise) surged 70 per cent to $3 billion
  • Commercial fell 5 per cent to $2.3 billion
  • Retail jumped 15 per cent to $1.2 billion
  • Industrial rose 9 per cent to $406 million
  • Hospital/Healthcare increased 10 per cent to $776 million
  • Public Buildings declined 33 per cent to $2.4 billion.