Construction figures: six months to June ‘09 - 109 villages/139 aged care Villages drop 18% but aged care doubles over 2008

Each week we analyse the DA approvals for the village and care sectors. Village approvals have been patchy at best this year, that is until this week when 480 ILUs worth $101 million were approved by council - see separate story.

At the six-month post we have done an analysis of the Reed Construction Database to check how much development has moved over the 12 months of 2008. In summary, DA application activity for retirement villages dropped 18% so far this year over last year. The biggest loser with a 36% decline was SA - it had 41 village developments last year but is averaging 26 this year. NSW is suffering a 25% decline with 51 village projects last year but trending just 38 this year. Across the country between January and June just 109 villages commenced the construction process.

Aged care activity, surprisingly given the negative messages of the sector, appears to be up by 240% in 2009 compared to 2008. Last year 115 projects moved through councils and yet in the six months to June this year 139 projects have already got council approval.