Harder times are having an impact on the growth of our city.
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With little rain, though it is nice to see some at the moment, the flow on effect is being felt in the housing sector, with the number of development applications declining.
While a city our size should be growing it's tough to read that the number of building approvals in Dubbo is going down, even though council says not to worry about it.
There were only four approvals for single dwellings in January, making it one of the lowest approvals council has ever had.
We have to go back as far as 2011/12 to see the same figures as we are seeing now, almost 10 years ago.
So far for the financial year to the end of January, there have been 414 development applications approved. It's almost 60 down from the 473 approved in the same time period the year before.
The value of the developments has also decreased.
Between July 2018 and January 2019 the DAs given the green light by council were worth a total estimated value of more than $158 million.
Between July 2019 and January 2020 that amount has also shrunk to $88 million.
The money is just not there as it once was.
We are seeing the longer term impact of the drought and the economic climate, and at the moment, there is no long term end in sight.
But, one thing to remember, things will improve, the housing sector will get better and Dubbo will start growing again.
What goes down, usually comes back up. It's just a matter of how long that will take and how long things can hold out for.
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