The total value of building permits in Victoria has hit a record level of almost $40 billion in 2018, according to data released by the Victorian Building Authority (VBA).
The cost of works in permits reported to the VBA for the 12 months was $39.6 billion – up 10.7 percent, or $3.8 billion, on the previous year’s record $35.8 billion.
There’s a corresponding rise in the number of building permits for the calendar year at 113,287, up 0.4 percent over last year’s record 112,882 permits.
VBA’s building permit data for 2018 also shows that the value of building permits exceeded $3 billion in 10 of the 12 months; August at almost $4 billion was the highest monthly total ever.
The value of building permits increased across all seven building use categories and all seven regions of Victoria.
The Domestic (houses) category was responsible for more than half of the total value of building permits at $20.2 billion, up 8.8 percent over the previous year.
The Rural regions saw better growth in both the number and value of building permits over the Metropolitan region (Melbourne). The number of permits reported in the Rural region rose 4.7 percent, while the Metropolitan region saw a drop of 1.6 percent. Both Rural and Metropolitan regions reported increases in value of 14.3 percent and 9.9 percent respectively over 2017.
Retail and Industrial were the two building use categories that experienced the strongest growth in 2018: Retail was up 24.1 percent, and Industrial climbed 22.6 percent while Commercial came in next at 19.0 percent, followed by Public Buildings at 16.1 percent.
Value of building permits by building use category in 2018 (over 2017):
Domestic (houses) increased 8.8 percent to $20.2 billion
Residential rose 3.7 percent to $6.4 billion
Commercial increased 19.0 percent to $5.3 billion
Retail rose 24.1 percent to $2.2 billion
Industrial increased 22.6 percent to $755 million
Hospital/Healthcare increased 6.1 percent to $1.2 billion
Public Buildings increased 16.1 percent to $3.5 billion
Value of building permits by region in 2018 (over 2017):
Inner Melbourne increased 12.0 percent to $18.2 billion
Outer Melbourne increased 7.4 percent to $14.1 billion
Gippsland increased 29.0 percent to $1.3 billion
North Central increased 16.5 per cent to $1.2 billion
North East increased 13.5 per cent to $1.0 billion
North West increased 15.2 percent to $1.2 billion
South West increased 7.3 percent to $2.6 billion
Victoria’s billion-dollar municipalities (by value of building permits reported)
Eleven municipalities in Victoria reported building permits with a value of more than $1 billion in 2018:
The Top 10 Rural municipalities in 2018, compared with 2017:
