New data has revealed Warrnambool is enjoying a bumper construction period. Journalist RACHAEL HOULIHAN explores the building permit statistics.
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WARRNAMBOOL is in the midst of a building bonanza, with $114 million worth of works undertaken in 2017.
South-west tradies and constructuon industry services are making the most of the boom, with insiders reporting they are “flat out”.
The latest Victoria Building Authority (VBA) data show there was an increase in the worth of works of $4 million from 2016, with the number of building permits also increasing from 566 in 2016 to 592 in 2017.
“In Warrnambool, domestic (houses) is the massive standout and it has increased over 2016,” a VBA spokesman said.
The data shows there was five additional building permits in this category, and the value of those permits had increased by more than nine per cent.
The value of domestic building permits in 2017 was $81.6 million, up from $74.6 million.
The VBA spokesman said the Warrnambool data showed the top building permit for domestic was a single permit for 23 dwelling units, accounting for almost $4 million of that additional value.
“Despite there being one less residential (including apartments) building use permit, the value of residential surged 271 per cent over 2016 levels,” the spokesman said.
Public buildings have also taken a leap, with a large jump in the number of permits year-on-year (21 to 40) and 370.7 per cent increase in value (from $2,882,479 to $13,567,140).”
He said 2016 was a big year for retail building permits and it dipped back in 2017.
In 2016 there was only a single permit for use for a hospital or healthcare, and the value was $1000.
In 2017 that sky-rocketed to 10 permits worth $1.75 million.
Warrnambool City Council’s city growth director Andrew Paton said there had been strong growth across a range of sectors.
“Those sectors include aged care, new car dealerships, the geothermal spa development and health services infrastructure, including the new facility on Moore Street,” he said.
Warrnambool City councillor and developer Tony Herbert said positivity had been building within the industry.
He said after the recent liveability studies, which ranked Warrnambool and the south-west as the second-most liveable region in Australia and number one in Victoria, word was getting out about what a great place the city was to live, work and invest in.
“I have had a great feeling about Warrnambool for so long, and now other people are seeing it,” Cr Herbert said.
“The data is so strong.
“Now we have to get the message out to people about the city.”
Cr Herbert said people in the building industry he had been talking to said they had been “flat out”.
“I just can’t believe the positivity,” he said.
“It’s a great story at the moment.”
Business full steam ahead for our tradies
Shaun Stapleton and Justin Okeefe say they have had plenty of enquiries about building new homes or renovating and extending properties.
“We can definitely see it is moving forward,” Mr Stapleton said. “We’ve noticed already in January and February how busy it is this year. We’ve got quite a few enquiries.”
The builders, who do custom work, constructed two new homes last year and also worked on four other renovations.
“The timber yard can’t keep up. There’s more timber going out than in at the moment,” Mr Okeefe joked.
Mr Stapleton said the boom was promising for the region. He said the metropolitan market was out of reach for a lot of buyers.
“The average home in Melbourne is about $800,000,” he said. “It’s far less than that here. The first home buyers grant is also helping a lot of people. Melbourne is at its peak and it’s quite hard to get into the market.”
The business has recently completed construction of a home in the Riverside Estate, off Wollaston Road.
Mr Okeefe said the business had an apprentice, and they “probably would not be far off getting another one”.
Mr Stapleton said recently a Melbourne developer had commented on how cheap land prices in Warrnambool were.
Area’s construction blitz
Victorian Building Association (VBA) data shows Moyne Shire had a bumper year, with all building permit categories recording strong positive percentage growth in the value of permits reported (up 46.6 per cent), even though the total number of permits dipped from 362 to 344.
Permit value rose from $43 million in 2016 to $64 million.
There was $39 million worth of permits issued for domestic house work in 2017, up $3 million on the previous year.
Corangamite was mixed across the building use categories but overall reported more permits and greater value than in 2016.
The value of building permits in 2017 compared with 2016 showed the south-west increased by 20.8 per cent to $2.4 billion.
Welsh’s Buildpro owner Bill Welsh said business had been booming.
“It is very solid,” he said.
“A lot of tradesmen are booked up well in advance. It’s good for them. It gives them great confidence. There is a lot of positivity around.”
Mr Welsh said people were willing to spend money at the moment, and it meant there was flow on effects for ther est of the south-west economy.
Brian and Peterson new homes consultant Vivian Carter said she was “certainly” noticing an increase in building activity.
“We have had a really positive start to 2018,” she said.
“We have had increased enquiry in January from the previous year. We monitor enquiry levels.”
She said there had been an increase over the past “three or four years” from customers from Geelong, Melbourne, Ballarat or interstate.
She said North Warrnambool, the Logans Beach/Hopkins River area and homes in Woodford on acreage were proving popular.
She said Brian and Peterson placed a high importance on supporting local trade suppliers, including Pontings Home Timber and hardware, wall frame and roof truss maker Owen Truss and Signature Windows.
Area manager Andrew Austin said businesses were enjoying the spin-off of the building boom.
“It’s good for the town,” he said.
“It’s also good for all the tradies and the suppliers. We have had an influx from Melbourne.
“There has been a number of people relocating here.”
All regions of the state recorded increased building permit activity compared with the previous year, with the growth in both the number and value of building permits in rural Victoria outstripping growth in the metropolitan region.
The value and number of building permits reported to the VBA in 2017 for Victoria was at record levels, with a total of 112,882 permits issued for work valued at $35.8 billion.