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- $21 million of DAs approved in a single month
- Ten-plus major projects under way in city
- Local business confidence ‘buoyant’: chamber
- Bulding on residential blocks up 27%
- Housing price growth to outstrip major cities: expert
WAGGA has broken through big slumps in agriculture and emerged as a fighting force for new investment, leading developers say.
But they say new-found confidence in the city’s construction sector should not be wasted – and the economic value of cranes and tradies should not be dismissed as “another brick in the wall”.
It comes as council reveals it approved $21 million worth of development applications in December last year – a $7 million surge on the year before.
The latest Housing Industry Association Land Monitor Report also reveals a whopping 27 per cent upswing in the construction of new homes in Wagga.
More than 10 major building projects are currently under way.
Damasa director Daniel Donebus, who comes from one of Wagga’s most successful building families, said new demand for Riverina produce and a surge in commodity prices had flowed through to city streets.
“One of the best ways to tell how things are going is to observe the restaurants … there seems to be plenty of people in them – more than there used to be,” he said.
“All the tradespeople are very well occupied by that confidence.
“We have a number of major projects still progressing and that is having a multiplier effect.”
Property guru Simon Pressley, of Propertyology, last month tipped that Wagga would outstrip Sydney and Melbourne for real estate performance, with an economic profile not dependent on any one industry and a solid employment base.
While the accuracy of Mr Pressley’s prediction remains to be seen, Wagga builder Peter Hurst believed Wagga needed to capitalise on the momentum.
“The confidence in the market is extremely high and we need to keep it going,” he said.
“This is not just about the building industry, this is about everyone and the flow-on effects.
“Every house and land package that is knocked back is money out of the economy … we’re a big regional centre and we shouldn’t have to keep building momentum and then losing it again.”
Another property developer, Brunslea Park’s Samantha Brunskill, said she had noticed an increase in outside investment “even in the past two weeks”.
“I think people are seeing this is a stable and affordable place to live,” she said.
NSW Business Chamber regional manager Ben Foley said in his meetings with Wagga businesses “everyone is buoyant and optimistic about the year ahead”.
