The number of dwellings approved rose 0.1 per cent in April 2017, in trend terms, and has risen for three months, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
Dwelling approvals increased in April in the Australian Capital Territory (3.6 per cent), Queensland (3.4 per cent), New South Wales (1.7 per cent), South Australia (1.6 per cent) and Tasmania (0.3 per cent), but decreased in Victoria (3.2 per cent), Western Australia (2.3 per cent) and the Northern Territory (2.2 per cent) in trend terms.
In trend terms, approvals for private sector houses fell 0.2 per cent in April. Private sector house approvals rose in South Australia (2.0 per cent), Victoria (0.3 per cent) and New South Wales (0.2 per cent), but fell in Queensland (2.0 per cent). Private house approvals were flat in Western Australia.
The movements across states show an upswing in SA, slight rises in VIC, NSW and WA, and a sharp fall in QLD.
In seasonally adjusted terms, dwelling approvals increased by 4.4 per cent in April, driven by a rise in total dwellings excluding houses (8.9 per cent) and total house approvals (0.8 per cent).
The value of total building approved rose 2.5 per cent in April, in trend terms, and has risen for three months. The value of residential building rose 0.2 per cent while non-residential building rose 6.9 per cent.
“Dwelling approvals have been relatively stable in trend terms over the past three months, after falling from record highs in mid-2016,” said Daniel Rossi, Assistant Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS. “The April 2017 data showed that the number of dwellings approved is now 14 per cent below the peak in May 2016”.
