A construction boom is unfolding in Whittlesea, Victorian Building Authority data confirms.
Whittlesea council issued permits for buildings valued at $1.13 billion in the 2014-15 financial year – up 44 per cent on the year before.
The boom puts the municipality sixth in a listing of building permit values reported to the VBA by Victorian councils.
In 2013-14, Whittlesea was in eighth place. It’s now one of just eight local council areas to record more than $1 billion in building permits in the year to June 30.
Victoria’s deputy executive director of the Property Council of Australia, Asher Judah, attributed the building boom to the state’s growing population.
“With Victoria’s population growing at record levels, housing construction is occurring at a rapid clip to keep pace with demand,” Mr Judah said
The value of residential construction in Whittlesea was about $734 million, which was the third-highest in the state, and an increase of 24 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Whittlesea council’s planning and major projects director, Steve O’Brien, said the figures came as no surprise.
He said there had been considerable activity around the new Epping wholesale market, which began trading for the first time this week.
The said the new quarantine facility at Mickleham was the most valuable building permit submitted, at a cost of $210 million.
