The number of dwellings approved rose 1.0 per cent in February, in trend terms, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
"The rise was driven by private sector dwellings excluding houses, which rose 1.6 per cent, in trend terms," said Daniel Rossi, Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS. "A significant rise in the number of apartments approved in February has offset the weakness recorded in January. Private sector houses also rose 0.6 per cent".
Across the states and territories, dwelling approvals rose in Victoria (3.9 per cent) and Queensland (0.4 per cent). Falls were recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (7.7 per cent), Northern Territory (5.3 per cent), South Australia (2.6 per cent), Western Australia (2.0 per cent) and New South Wales (0.1 per cent), in trend terms, while Tasmania was flat.
Approvals for private sector houses increased in Western Australia (1.0 per cent), Victoria (0.9 per cent), Queensland (0.6 per cent) and New South Wales (0.2 per cent), in trend terms, while South Australia was flat.
The ABS tend to dismiss the original values preferring instead to report on trend and seasonally adjusted results which have the affect of smoothing out the monthly fluctuations. My preferred reference point is the 12 month moving annual total. Across the market, a total of 126,601 dwellings were approved over the 12 months to February 2020, down -0.07% on the previous month and down -17% on the 12 months to February 2019.
Apartments
In February, 6,325 apartments were approved nationally, up 103% on the previous month taking the total approvals over the last 12 months to just 57,746 apartments, down -22% on the previous year's annual total. On an rolling 12 month basis, Sydney is down -29% on the previous year, Melbourne down -11%, Brisbane down -34% and Perth down 4.6%.
Houses
In the detached housing market in January 5,918 dwellings were approved nationally, up 31% on the previous month taking the total approvals over the last 12 months to 68,551 dwellings, down -13% on the previous year's annual total. On an rolling 12 month basis, Sydney is down -24% on the previous year, Melbourne down -11%, Brisbane down -14% and Perth down -7%.
With the Coronavirus yet to be have its full impact on Dwelling Approvals numbers, we expect these numbers to reduce significantly over the next 12 months.
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