Canberra's housing construction sector has experienced a recent spike in activity, new figures show.
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But an overall increase in dwelling commencements has masked a slump in the construction of detached houses, which has reached its lowest levels since September 2017.
Work started on 1137 new dwellings in the three months to June 2019, a 31 per cent increase on the previous quarter, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures published this week.
Construction started on a total of 5974 dwellings across the 2018/19 financial year, a 17.8 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
Tasmania was the only other jurisdiction to record a jump in housing starts in the past financial year, recording a 5.3 per cent jump.
The apartment sector was responsible for the recent uptick, with construction work starting on 883 units, a 63 per cent increase on the previous quarter.
In contrast, work started on just 254 detached houses in the June quarter.
The June result was the lowest since September 2017, and 14 per cent below the decade average.
Housing Industry Association ACT executive director Greg Weller said the detached housing market should be performing far better, given the strength of Canberra's economy and the amount of available land across the territory.
But Mr Weller said the high price of land in the ACT was a "handbrake", as was continued delays in the development assessment process.
The Canberra Times last month reported claims that the ACT construction sector had effectively ground to a halt, as companies waited months for projects to be assessed.
The government has hired six new staff to help clear a lengthy development application backlog and help reduce wait times.
Latest figures show that the average number of days to make a decision dropped from 107 to 101 between July and August.
However, just 20 per cent of applications were processed on-time in September, the lowest rate since at least 2012-13.