The City of Stirling in metropolitan Perth is receiving record numbers of development applications, despite building applications falling 3.3 per cent nationally in February.
Over the month of March, Council approved 431 applications, almost 100 more than the next highest month of December 2009, where
340 applications were approved.
Located eight kilometres north of the CBD, the City of Stirling encompasses some 100 square kilometres on the West Australian coast. It has a population of approximately
193,000 people.
Council’s Director Planning, Ross Povey, said Stirling is breaking the national trend.
“Consumer confidence has returned to the market and developers are forging ahead with their plans to build in the largest Local Government in Western Australia (by population),” he said.
“March was the third time since October 2009 where the number of development applications approved have been record highs.”
With 99 per cent of building applications being processed within 20 days, construction is also moving well. The majority of development is residential, comprising approximately 90 per cent of all applications recently approved.
Manager Approvals, Andre Gillot, is keen to reject the perception that Stirling is already a totally developed City.
“This is simply not the case,” he said. “What we are seeing now is a City that is completely rebuilding in terms of urban consolidation.
“We are seeing land owners return to the market en masse to develop what was once a quarter acre block with one house and in its place, they are building three.”
