December Building Approvals Rise in NT

In what may be a positive sign for residential real estate builders in Northern Territory, statistics have shown that approvals were up for December.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data found that residential building approvals in the territory increased by 4.5 per cent.

That lift was offset by a 12.1 per cent drop in the December 2012 quarter - but is still 38.8 per cent up from the same period in 2011.

Robert Harding, the executive director of the Northern Territory with the Housing Industry Association, said that the booming population and growing economy is playing a role.

He explained: "Approvals are starting to show a response to the territory's mounting population pressures.

"Looking at the trend data, the number of approvals in the December quarter is 15.9 per cent higher than the decade average. This is a good start; however, given the territory's accelerating population growth, we'll be looking for recent improvements to be consolidated."

The Northern Territory has been guilty of being a habitual "under-builder", Mr Harding added. As a result of this, there needs to be a serious attempt to release land to address undersupply and better facilitate the housing construction industry.