When it comes to apartment living, the term high-rise had become synonymous with high-risk. Recent research by the Office of the Building Commissioner found 39% of apartment buildings completed in the past 6 years had serious defects, predominantly with waterproofing, fire safety systems and structural work. It’s hardly surprising that public confidence in new apartment developments is at an all-time low, but sentiment is starting to change.
Lack of critical information
Until now, consumers and investors had inadequate information about the risks associated with owning or leasing a strata property. Decisions are being made without critical information when purchasing a property, or when managing or addressing issues. NSW Government initiatives to invest in new customer facing data sources are changing the knowledge landscape.
Building a digital future
This is where the eConstruction Program comes in. The program aims to transform how buildings are designed and constructed using new digital platforms to improve visibility, functionality, and quality assurance for customers, regulators, insurers, suppliers and builders. New market led tools, such as a building trustworthy indicator, are helping consumers to make informed decisions and follow the maintenance of buildings throughout their lifecycle. These initiatives ensure that apartments being built are trustworthy.
“The building rating will be useful. Expect it to be more in-depth value as I’m a nurse and I don’t know much about buildings.”
– NSW customer
Building better outcomes
Owners, renters, industry stakeholders and the regulator will have access to single sources of accessible information for all apartment building documentation. Not only is this transparency expected to help inform decisions, it will also increase industry accountability to support regulators to better enforce standards.
Due to be completed by 2023, the eConstruction Program brings significant change to the NSW Government’s approach and role in regulating the building and construction sector. Most importantly, consumer confidence will be restored in the NSW building industry.
“The annoying thing is that when you’re buying a unit, you are often repeating exercises that others have done to investigate the quality of a building. It would be great if there was a government registry, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
– NSW customer
“I have low confidence because of structural considerations. With a house you can get an engineer to look at your property. If you’re buying a unit, you can get a review but not necessarily of the building, just your unit.”
– NSW customer
Over 81,700 strata schemes are registered in NSW, growing by up to 1000 new buildings each year.
- Low confidence among NSW residents is driven by a distrust of developers (31%) and a belief that apartments are not well constructed (24%) or not built to last (15%).
of prospective buyers said not knowing whether an apartment has defects is the greatest challenge when purchasing an apartment.
of all NSW residents are looking to purchase an apartment within the next 2 years.
New initiatives, such as building compliance measures increases purchasing confidence (from 46% to 77%).