Data released this week shows non-residential building approvals worth $855 million were issued across Victoria during January.

These approvals are 14.4 per cent higher than the previous month and 39.2 per cent higher than the same time last year (seasonally adjusted).

In fact, in the whole of 2013 there were only two months where seasonally adjusted approvals were higher – in October and May.

The trend for non-residential building approvals has now moved positively in each of the last twelve months, providing a hopeful sign that activity in this sector will pick up pace throughout 2014.



The latest data follows the release of new Master Builders’ research that shows builders and construction companies are more positive about the industry’s future prospects than at any other time since mid-2010.

As the next graph shows, Victoria has been leading the charge over the past year when it comes to non-residential building approvals. 






A year ago our state was at level pegging with Queensland and well behind New South Wales. Today, the gap between New South Wales and Victoria has closed slightly and there are now some $96 million in additional approvals happening here in trend terms per month compared to Queensland.