APARTMENT BUILDING APPROVALS ON THE RISE AS SECTOR POWERS INTO 2023
Kanebridge News
Share Button

APARTMENT BUILDING APPROVALS ON THE RISE AS SECTOR POWERS INTO 2023

Individual borrowers may be feeling the heat in Australia but the multi-res market is shaping up for a busy year

By KANEBRIDGE NEWS
Thu, Feb 2, 2023 12:32pmGrey Clock 2 min

Approvals for apartment construction are responsible for an 18.5 percent increase in the total number of dwellings getting the green light during December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports.

In data released today, the figures are in contrast to the previous month where building approvals declined by 8.8 percent over November 2022.

“The increase in the total number of dwellings approved in December was led by a sharp rise in approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses (+56.6 per cent),” said Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics. “The result was driven by a number of large apartment developments approved in New South Wales and Victoria.

“Approvals for private sector houses continued to track downwards, falling by 2.3 per cent.”

Private sector dwellings excluding houses includes semi detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.

New South Wales saw the strongest increase, up 48.4 percent, followed by Victoria (up 20.7 percent), Queensland (up 8.3 percent) and Western Australia (up 6.4 percent). Tasmania and South Australia both recorded significant decreases, with overall approvals falling -49.7 percent and -24.6 percent respectively.

The strong performance in the apartment sector compared with private sector housing points to growing pressure on individual mortgage holders following a 3 percent rise in interest rates over 2022. The results for private sector housing were mixed, with some states recording rises, such as Western Australia (up 8.2 percent), Victoria (up 0.3 percent) and Queensland (up 0.2 percent) while others such as South Australia and New South Wales experiencing a drop, with approvals down -7.4 percent and -4.2 percent respectively. 



MOST POPULAR

Hoping to recreate a freewheeling world tour from their youth, two retirees set themselves a ‘no itinerary’ challenge: Can they improvise their way across seven countries?

Super isn’t your only option. These smart strategies can help you self-fund a comfortable retirement.

Related Stories
Property
Emma Stone Asks $26.5 Million for Freshly Renovated Austin Home
By KATHERINE CLARKE 21/05/2025
Property of the Week
Property Of The Week: 45 Greenwich Rd, Greenwich
By Kirsten Craze 16/05/2025
Property
Melbourne’s Most Expensive Suburbs to Rent
By Staff Writer 14/05/2025
Emma Stone Asks $26.5 Million for Freshly Renovated Austin Home

The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, spent more than three years restoring the house, which is one of the priciest properties for sale in the Texas city.

By KATHERINE CLARKE
Wed, May 21, 2025 2 min

In 2021, actress Emma Stone purchased a historic estate in Austin, Texas, with a plan to move her family there. Four years later, she has instead decided to put the property on the market.

The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, are asking $26.5 million for the newly renovated estate, according to Eric Moreland of Moreland Properties/Forbes Global Properties, one of the listing agents. The 1.25-acre property, located in the upscale Tarrytown neighbourhood, will be among the most expensive on the market in Austin.

Stone and McCary have spent more than three years renovating and restoring the Texas property, Moreland said.

A spokesperson for Stone didn’t respond to requests for comment. Moreland said the couple’s New York business interests have expanded since they started the remodel, and while they hope to live in Austin eventually, it doesn’t make sense for now.

The couple, who are co-founders of the production company Fruit Tree, own a roughly $12 million apartment in lower Manhattan, according to property records. Stone is slated to star in the upcoming contemporary Western film “Eddington.”

It’s unclear what Stone and McCary paid for the Austin property, since Texas is a nondisclosure state . The Georgian-style brick house dates to around 1940, making it one of the oldest estates in the area.

The roughly 10,000-square-foot estate includes a main house with four bedrooms and a two-bedroom guesthouse. The property also has a pool, a hot tub, and a garage with a screening room and entertaining space above.

As part of the renovation, the couple removed, cleaned and reused all the exterior brick. They also reconfigured some of the living spaces, opening the kitchen to the living room for a more modern layout. It took more than a year just to install the millwork in the screening room, said Moreland.

The contractors are now putting the finishing touches on the property, he said.

The “La La Land” actress has a track record of buying and selling her homes for significantly more than she paid. In 2022, she sold her blufftop Malibu, Calif., home for $4.425 million after buying it for $3.25 million in 2018, according to property records.

Last year, she sold her home in L.A.’s Comstock Hills neighbourhood for $4.3 million, significantly more than the $2.3 million she paid in 2019.

Austin saw an influx of new residents during COVID, but many of those are now returning to the East and West coasts, particularly workers in the tech sector.

While the market “has come down to earth a little bit” since the pandemic-era boom, Moreland said, he has seen a number of $20 million-plus deals over the past few months.

Moreland has the listing with colleague Diane Humphreys.

MOST POPULAR

Bhutan is pioneering a new frontier in travel by allowing tourists to pay for flights, visas, hotels and even fruit stalls using cryptocurrency via Binance Pay.

The museum is taking the lead on re-evaluating its art and artifacts to determine where these works came from in the first place.

Related Stories
Lifestyle
5 minutes with: Craig Wing, Citizen Kanebridge Ambassador
By Jeni O'Dowd 01/04/2025
Money
Niantic to Sell Pokemon GO, Other Games to Saudi-Backed Group in $3.5b Deal
By MAURO ORRU 13/03/2025
Money
A Piece of Glass Thinner Than a Credit Card Could Solve America’s $25 Billion Energy Problem
By CHRISTOPHER MIMS 24/03/2025
0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop