Units fall, homes rise
CAIRNS apartment approvals have collapsed in 2018 with new numbers showing none have been given the green light this year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show 88 buildings worth a total of $26.9 million were approved in the Far North in August.
The number and value of approved buildings was up on July, when 76 buildings worth $24.2 million were approved.
In the Cairns Regional Council area alone, 52 buildings were approved worth $18.8 million in August. Throughout the year 101 houses have been approved in Cairns, up from 92 approv- als across the same period in 2017.
The crash in apartment approvals to zero compared with 114 apartments approved in the same period in 2017.
In Carpentaria, 13 buildings were approved, compared to just two in July. Similarly, approvals in Mareeba increased from seven in July to 13 in August.
Master Builders Queensland deputy CEO Paul Bidwell said construction remained a key economic sector in every community.
“Building approvals is a really important indicator of how the local economy is doing,” he said.
“If people are living and working in the area, if industry is doing well, then people are going to be looking at building.”
Mr Bidwell said almost all approved buildings were built, but construction starts could take years.
“The correlation between approvals and construction is very high, around 99 per cent,” he said.
“If a developer is doing their job right, they shouldn’t be applying for approvals for buildings that aren’t going to get built.”