The Building Commission's pulse 2008 data shows that in the 12 months to the end of

December 2008, building permit activity in Victoria exceeded $20 billion for the first time in a

calendar year.

After releasing the pulse 2008 statistics, Building Commissioner, Tony Arnel, said the 2008

total of $20.2 billion represented an increase of 10.6 per cent on the 2007 figure of $18.3 billion.

"Such a result is very pleasing for Victoria but it needs to be considered against the backdrop of

the global economic uncertainty and its flow-on effects to Australia, including the likelihood of

slowing building permit activity," Arnel said.

"So while the full year figure was a record, month-on-month data showed that building permit

activity in October to December 2008 quarter dipped 10.5 per cent compared to the same

quarter in 2007.

"However, during the calendar year, the resilience of the Victorian building industry was reflected

in the higher 2008 figure by value of permits issued and by the fact that the number of permits

issued was up marginally to 102,618 from 102,603 in 2007."

The extent and impact of the global economic slowdown on building permit activity in Victoria

would become clearer in coming months.

The Commissioner said the pulse 2008 data showed that by building use, Public Buildings and

Commercial had performed strongly, rising 54 per cent and 32 per cent respectively in the 12

months compared to the previous year. The Residential and Domestic categories were up 12

and seven per cent respectively. Overall, the 2008 calendar year building permit figures by

building use compared to 2007 showed:

Domestic rose 7.0 per cent to $10.3 billion.

Residential increased 11.7 per cent to $1.9 billion.

Commercial leapt 31.8 per cent to $4.1 billion.

Retail dipped 10.1 per cent to $1.6 billion.

Industrial declined 32.2 per cent to $0.4 billion.

Hospital/health-care fell 20.2 per cent to $0.4 billion.

Public buildings surged 53.9 per cent to $1.5 billion.

Mr Arnel said that on a regional basis, all regions - with the exception of the North East and the

South West - recorded increased levels of building permit activity over the 12 months. The

standouts were Inner Melbourne, which was up 26 per cent, and North Central, which grew 10

per cent in 2008 compared with 2007.