Victoria’s Planning Minister, Matthew Guy says the state is in the midst of a building boom and believes it is showing no sign of abating.

In a press release from the Victorian Government, Guy refers to the recent 2014 June Quarter release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) before attributing the boom to his government’s policies on zone reforms in both residential and commercial areas.

The Napthine Liberal government took over office in 2010 and the 2014 June Quarter ABS show that the state has now recorded three consecutive Construction Work Done increases.

Before they took office, the previous Labour government had recorded 13 successive rises in Construction Work Done statistics under their own Melbourne 2030 policies.

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From the Victorian Government:

Victoria’s building boom shows no signs of abating,” Mr Guy said.

“The Napthine Government’s strong planning policy has made Victoria’s building sector the strongest of any state.

“Victoria’s land supply program has been the most successful of any state, releasing 95,000 housing lots in metropolitan Melbourne alone. The strong competition between developers has dropped the median lot price from $225,000 in 2010 to around $191,000 now. This 15 per cent saving has benefited both homebuyers and builders.

“Encouraging greater density in the central city area has driven more construction jobs on high rise projects, while catering for our population growth.

“Zone reforms to residential and commercial zones have provided certainty to both builders and residents, making it clear what can be built where, rather than the anything-goes Melbourne 2030 approach under Labor. 

“Land release in regional cities such as Geelong, Ballarat and the Latrobe Valley has continued to grow the construction sector in those communities,” Mr Guy said.

The Construction Work Done figures, released by the ABS today, show that the value of building work, including residential and non-residential building, jumped by 1.0 per cent compared with the previous quarter, to $6.39 billion.

Over the previous 12 months, the total value increased by 0.7 per cent, to $24.9 billion. This is 10 per cent above New South Wales’ total building value for the same period.

Detached house construction rose 2.1 per cent for the quarter, to $2.06 billion, and was 9.3 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Non-residential building work jumped 4.0 per cent for the quarter, up to $2.28 billion. The value of non-residential building work for the year to June 2014 jumped by 5.7 per cent compared with the previous year, to a value of $8.87 billion.

Note: All of the figures quoted are Seasonally Adjusted and can be found on Table 5 of the ABS Series 8755.0, released today.