Photo: Herald Sun

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released this week shows Victorian building approvals reached a record high of $40 billion in the 12 months to January 2018.

The data also shows Victorian goods and services export volumes rose 7.5 per cent over the year to the December quarter, the highest of all states and well above national growth of just 0.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s retail trade totalled $79.5 billion in the year to January, which accounted for more than a quarter of the nation’s turnover (25.5 per cent). In addition, growth in the value of retail trade was the highest of the states at 3.8 per cent over the year to January, compared to a national average of 2.1 per cent.

In the construction sector, both residential and non-residential building approvals contributed to Victoria’s extraordinary growth of 22.3 per cent in the 12 months to January – the highest growth of all mainland states.

The annual growth of Victorian non-residential building approvals also topped all mainland states at 60.0 per cent, compared to 10.8 per cent nationally.

In the 12 months to January 2018, Victoria contributed almost a third (32.4 per cent) of the value of all building approvals across Australia.

Victoria’s surge in building approvals and international and retail trade activity is testament to the Andrews Labor Government’s commitment to boost construction and business confidence, and most importantly, jobs.

Since November 2014, more than 315,000 jobs have been created by the Andrews Labor Government – the majority of them full time.