Higher selling prices – of apartments targeting downsizing home owners – have boosted the construction of new units, putting the country on track to record its highest number of completions this year since 2020, new figures from consultancy Urbis show.
“Across each stage in a development’s lifecycle, from application to completion, we are observing fewer apartments and projects across each stage when compared against long-term quarterly averages over the past five years,” Mr Dawson said. Overseas buyers requiring permission from the Foreign Investment Review Board made up 11 per cent, in line with last year’s 12 per cent but above the 7 per cent of 2022. In 2020, the figure was 21 per cent.
The 26 per cent national increase lifted the national dollar-per-square-metre presales and construction rate to $14,600 from a year earlier.The median weekly rent for new apartments rose 3 per cent in the March quarter to finish 8 per cent higher than their level a year earlier, the report says.