Latest Data Reveals Dwelling Approval Trends

The latest figures from the ABS are out, and they say that August's monthly total of dwelling approvals are amongst the strongest of the cycle.

In seasonally adjusted terms, there were a total of 20,788 dwellings approved during month of August, which was 1.8 per cent down on the previous month.

The number of detached dwellings approved during the month of August declined by 0.9 per cent compared with a month earlier, while the number of ‘other-dwellings’ approved declined by 2.5 per cent.

“The strong results in July and August was primarily driven by the ‘other dwelling’ segment which is mainly comprised of apartments," said HIA Economist Geordan Murray.

"It was the first time on record where we’ve seen the number of dwellings approved in this segment exceed 11,000 for two consecutive months.

"The number of detached house approvals remained relatively consistent with recent months, however we’ve now seen three consecutive monthly declines in approval numbers in this segment.

“The divergent levels of activity levels in each state and territory continue to highlight that the current cycle is very much an eastern seaboard story. This is particularly evident when you look at the change in the levels of activity compared with August last year.

"New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT are all up on the year ago levels, whereas South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the NT are all down by more than 20 per cent,” Mr Murray said.

In August 2016, total seasonally-adjusted new home building approvals increased by 1.8 per cent in Victoria and also increased in Queensland by 0.6 per cent.

Building approvals fell in August 2016 in New South Wales (-2.3 per cent), South Australia (-10.6 per cent), Western Australia (-14.3 per cent) and Tasmania (-1.8 per cent). In trend terms, approvals fell by 15.1 per cent in the Northern Territory and were unchanged in the Australian Capital Territory.