A rise in Apartment Dwelling Approvals has provided some confidence that the construction industry may start to see some signs of improvement. The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwellings approved in the 8 capital cities rose in November +19.7% on the previous month and +3.1% higher than the same month in 2018.
As shown in the graph, Apartments were the key contributor to the improved results, up 47% on October 2019 and up 16.8% on the same month last year.
Dwelling approvals are a key leading indicator for residential building activity, and the recent downturns has become a major drag on economic growth. The contraction in activity was amplified by concerns around the building quality of high-rise apartment projects.
The improvements in November have had some impact on the total annual dwelling approvals which continue to reflect the substantial slow down since October 2018. Total Apartment approvals on a rolling 12 month basis to November 2019 remain down -29% on the 12 months to Nov 2018, whilst housing approvals are down -15% on the across the same period.
The statistics showed that Sydney powered ahead in November with 2,859 new apartment approvals, compared to just 840 the prior month and 1,721 in November 2018. A review of the small area data showed that the majority (1397) of the apartment approvals were in the Parramatta SLA due to recent approval of two major projects in Lidcombe by Meriton (340 apartments) and Westmead by DeiCorp (565 apartments).
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