of ample spare capacity. but such a situation would still provide support to aggregate demand in other ways, including via the operation of the balance - sheet and wealth channels. there is evidence of some tightening in supply in pockets of the country. in some cities, stocks of unsold lots suitable for development appear to be unusually low ( graph 3 ). shortages are most evident in sydney, where greenfield land releases have not kept pace with recent strong demand. also, some of the bank ’ s liaison contacts are concerned that the stock of suitable sites for apartment developments in sydney has been depleted in the past few years. there is little evidence of labour supply constraints outside a few trades and professional roles. however, inflation of building material prices has risen and the bank ’ s liaison suggests that some builders have increased margins over the past year or so. consistent with this, inflation in new dwelling costs has risen to be almost 2 percentage points above its average over the inflation - targeting period ; although, it is still below that seen when dwelling construction was strong in the early 2000s. despite the potential emergence of some constraints affecting the supply of new dwellings in pockets of the country, there appears to be scope for strong growth in new dwelling i ’ ve said quite a bit about the difficulty of modelling business investment. see kent c ( 2014 ), ‘ non - mining business investment – where to from here? ’, address to the bloomberg summit, sydney, 16 september. it is often difficult to find a significant empirical relationship between interest rates and business investment. for a discussion of how businesses respond to changes in interest rates see lane k and t rosewall ( 2015 ), ‘ firms ’ investment decisions and interest rates ’, rba bulletin, june, forthcoming. it appears that there might be a slightly longer delay between the time approvals are granted and the construction of housing than in the past. this is likely to reflect the larger share of higher - density dwellings, which take longer to complete than detached dwellings. for more information on this point, see rba ( 2015 ), ‘ box c : the cycle in dwelling investment ’, statement on monetary policy, may, pp 43 – 45. bis central bankers ’ speeches construction in other parts of the country. moreover, alterations and additions activity could pick up. this used to account for about 45 per cent of total dwelling construction, but has declined over the past few years, despite lower interest rates and the sizeable increase in dwelling prices. in short, there are some signs

amando m tetangco, jr : leading the way toward growth and development speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the inaugural blessing of the newest branch of one network bank in sasa, davao city, 20 july 2007. * * * archbishop capalla, mayor duterte, the officers and staff of one network bank ( onb ), fellow bankers, special guests, maayong gabi - i sa inyong tanan! on behalf of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, i congratulate onb on the inaugural of its head office branch, the 65th in its network of branches within mindanao. these 65 branches exclude the five new branches that have just been approved by the bsp. now a leading rural bank, onl has positioned itself as a catalyst for economic growth in mindanao, with a presence bigger than other private banks. one network bank : making a difference in mindanao in particular, onb ’ s support for the agriculture sector including small farmers is most commendable. i understand that onb ’ s loan exposure to agriculture is among the highest in the industry and it continues to grow : it was p1. 1 billion in march 2006 and by march this year it had reached p1. 5 billion! we also recognize the bank ’ s contribution in financing the development of the education, health and services sectors in mindanao through credit facilities that are made available to various institutions such as schools, hospitals, and local government units. in addition, onb has responded positively to bangko sentral ’ s policy to encourage technological innovations that translate to more efficient and convenient ways of facilitating access to banking services. for instance, onb paved the way for the investments by rural and cooperative banks in automated teller machines. in addition, onb ’ s focus to expand its remittance services resulted in partnerships with commercial banks and money transfer companies. onb has also applied for its own fcdu license. this is aligned with bangko sentral ’ s policy to encourage more overseas workers to transact through the banking system. the way forward indeed, judging from its involvement in countryside banking, onb has become a model among rural banks in terms of both financial soundness and social responsibility. tonight, therefore, i ask the men and women of onb to sustain onb ’ s performance and enhance the bank ’ s