It might only be the first week of spring, but home values, listings and building approvals are running hot
Approvals to build new multi-unit homes rebounded in July, according to seasonally adjusted data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
The figures show that the total number of dwellings approved rose 10.4 per cent in July, lifted by a 32.1 per cent rise in approvals to build apartments.
Australian home values increased in August, but the pace of growth is showing clear signs of slowing, property data analysts Corelogic said this week.
Corelogic’s Home Value Index lifted 0.5 per cent during the month of August, for the 19th consecutive month of growth.
Last month we ran a story about a French construction company building homes in Ukraine using recycled rubble. Now, we find that an Australian company is doing similar work, turning rubble into bricks using portable factories.
Perth-based Mobile Crisis Construction (MCC) has developed mobile factories that crush rubble then press it into recycled, interlocking blocks for the rapid rebuilding of shelter and critical infrastructure.
Residential property listings for August 2024 recorded significant increases across most major cities, new research has revealed.
National data released this week by SQM Research shows that listings rose by 7.9 per cent, bringing the total to 249,523 properties. Listings are up by 11.1 per cent, compared with the same time last year, with substantial shifts revealed across various cities.
A knife block might seem a handy way to store kitchen knives neatly and out of the kids’ reach, but a social media stream has questioned its hygiene levels.
Cleanliness guru known online as @howdirtyis, who swabs surfaces around the home and cultivates the collected bacteria in a petri dish, this week revealed that wooden knife blocks can become breeding grounds for bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus, due to moisture and food particles getting trapped.
When releasing building approvals data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) usually talks about "dwellings excluding houses". Why not just say ‘apartments’, or ‘flats’?
According to the ABS, the nomenclature includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.