Tighter credit conditions are continuing to have an affect on the housing construction sector with Building Approval data showing a decline of 11% on BA’s issued in August, as compared to July, with major declines in each of Sydney (-11.8%), Melbourne (-21.5%) and Brisbane (-18.5%). Melbourne’s decline in approvals was predominantly in the apartment market with a 49% drop in approvals for the month of July. Melbourne has had a strong run of approvals with the number of apartment approvals issued over the last 12 months still up 19.4% over the previous 12 months. Melbourne houses showed a minor improvement in July (up 0.6%) and remain 8.3% higher for the 12 months. Approvals in Brisbane contracted across both the houses and apartments markets with the monthly decline at -17% and -20% respectively. For the past 12 months however, Brisbane continues to see a positive increase in total approvals (up 5.5%), driven predominantly by detached houses (up 16%). Sydney continued a 2 years decline in approvals with the monthly number down -11.8% on last month, whilst the total over the past 12 months is down -2.5% compared to the previous 12 months. Sydney apartments approvals are down -4.6% for the 12 months however houses manage to retain positive growth of just 1.8% for the 12 months.
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