For the financial year to April there has been $162.5 million in development applications approved by Dubbo Regional Council.

It’s $10 million higher than the same time period for the previous year.

In April this year alone there were 52 development applications given the green light. They were worth an estimated $13.6 million.

They include 17 single dwellings, 17 garages or carports and six swimming pools.

A $3.3 million application for an educational building was also given the tick of approval from council, as well as a $1.5 million application for a motel.

Wellington has approved $3.2 million in developments in the past 10 months. Significantly higher than the $2.2 million for the same time period the previous financial year.

There were 59 applications given the green light in the town, relatively on par with the 60 approved last year.

Dubbo Regional Council’s director environmental services Melissa Watkins said the trend at the moment showed development was holding steady in both Dubbo and Wellington.

“There’s been only a marginal increase in numbers from last year. There has been an increase in the total value of development from last year and there has been some minor reduction in the number of applications approved in Wellington, however overall they’re holding steady,” Ms Watkins said.

“I would suspect the numbers will hold again for another month, and then you can see with the number of applications being discussed at the moment that we might see an increase in the following month.”

The two developments approved in Wellington during April were for dwellings.

Last month, Ms Watkins said while development had been steady, the types of development going ahead had altered.

“I think the biggest change we’ve seen would be the multi-unit housing developments, there’s also quite a lot of commercial development in the pipeline and being approved at the moment,” she said.

Across NSW the number of dwellings being approved is on the rise, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics.

In March the number of approvals rose by three per cent, continuing the trend of the previous three months.

The number of private sector houses rose only marginally by three per cent, however it had been falling for the ten months prior to March.