Australian Bureau Of Statistics

Dwelling Approvals Fall In November

Victor P Taffa

Number of dwellings approved in Australia fell by 2.3 % in November 2018, in trend terms, according to data released by the Australian Bureau Of Statistics (ABS) today.

“Trend for total dwellings has been steadily declining over the past 12 Months.” Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS Justin Lokhorst said.

“Series is now 18.3 % lower than at the same time last year.”

Decrease in November was driven by private sector dwellings excluding houses (e.g. townhouses and apartments), which fell 5.0 %. Private sector houses also declined, by 0.3 %.

States And Territories

Dwelling Approvals in trend terms fell in:

• Australian Capital Territory (9.5 %),
• South Australia (6.2 %),
• Western Australia (4.5 %),
• Queensland (3.4 %),
• New South Wales (3.1 %).

States To Record Increases:

• Tasmania (3.5 %),
• Victoria (0.6 %).

Northern Territory was flat.

Approvals for private sector houses fell 0.3 % in trend terms.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in:

• Victoria (0.7 %),
• New South Wales (0.1 %).

Decreases were recorded in:

• Queensland (1.8 %),
• South Australia (1.0 %),
• Western Australia (0.7 %).

In seasonally adjusted terms, total dwellings fell by 9.1 % in November, driven by a 17.9 % decrease in private dwellings excluding houses. Private houses fell 2.6 % in seasonally adjusted terms.

Value of total building approved fell 0.8 % in November, in trend terms, and has fallen for 12 months. The value of residential building fell 1.6 %, while non-residential building rose 0.6 %.