Sydney housing approvals best in nearly 10 years

Those considering purchasing land for sale for the purposes of building may be interested to hear that housing approvals in Sydney are at their highest levels in nearly a decade.

The New South Wales government announced that annual approvals have not been better since 2003-04 - with a 22 per cent jump in approvals in the last six months of 2012, and a 31 per cent increase in completions in that same time period.

State planning minister Brad Hazzard said the fact completions have increased more than approvals is a good sign.

He explained: "The result is thousands more new homes have come on the market, downward pressure on prices, and thousands of jobs have been secured with the construction of new housing.

"The NSW government is delivering new land supplies, serviced by infrastructure, and making the planning process easier for investors and homeowners to get building again."

The figures show that there were 14,672 approvals in the second half of 2012 - 22 per cent higher than the same period in 2011, while 10,929 new homes were completed between July and December last year.

Mr Hazzard continued by saying that national figures show that New South Wales is the "most buoyant" of anywhere in the country.