Territory Stories

Budget Paper 1994-95 No.6 Northern Territory Economy

Details:

Title

Budget Paper 1994-95 No.6 Northern Territory Economy

Other title

Tabled Paper 2156

Collection

Tabled Papers for 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT

Date

1994-05-12

Description

Tabled by Barry Coulter

Notes

Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Language

English

Subject

Tabled papers

File type

application/pdf

Use

Copyright

Copyright owner

See publication

License

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00044

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/292876

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/398240

Page content

Housing and Construction The housing and co n s tru c tio n in d u stry com prises residential and non-residentia l building plus engineering activity, which includes construction o f roads and bridges. In the Northern Territory, residential building dominates activity representing some 82% of in v es tm e n t. N o n -re s id e n tia l b u ild in g investment tends to be volatile with individual projects having significant influence. Public sector investm ent decisions impact upon the level o f activity in all sections o f the in d u stry . H ousing and c o n s tru c tio n co n trib u tes p ro p o rtio n a te ly m ore to the Northern Territory economy than at the national economy (see Table 11.1). Declining interest rates and increased competition amongst lenders over recent years have acted as a stimulus to housing and construction activity. Residential Building Housing finance data is a key indicator o f demand for dwellings and generally leads building approvals and subsequent building activity. The num ber o f secured housing finance commitments in the Territory during 1993 increased 28.7% (to 4 174) while the value o f these commitments increased 42.9% (to $333.2 million). National figures show an increase o f 20.6 and 26.8% respectively. The purchase of established dwellings represented 71% of the total number of housing finance commitments. Refinancing increased substantially as continued low interest rates enabled existing mortgage holders to capture cheaper loan servicing costs and accounted for 4.9% of total commitments. Housing finance commitments for the construction o f new houses grew rapidly during the twelve months to January 1994 (up 56% to 739). Commitments for the purchase o f established houses increased 19.3% (to 2 660). Table 11.1 Housing and Construction % o f GDP Northern Territory 9.5 Queensland 8.6 Western Australia 8.1 Tasmania 7.4 Australian Capital Territory 7.3 New South Wales 7.0 South Australia 6.9 Victoria 6.3 Australia 7.2 Source: ABS Cat. No. 5220.0, 1991/92 63