Apartment approvals fall 17.5%

The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that during September total dwelling approvals fell by 8.7 per cent. A total of 18,945 approvals were recorded during the month.

Multi-unit approvals in particular recorded a significant month-on-month drop of 17.5 per cent during the period, while detached house approvals increased by 1.7 per cent.

Total seasonally-adjusted new home building approvals experienced the largest decline in Victoria (-15.6 per cent) followed by NSW (-13.3 per cent), Queensland (-11.7 per cent) and Tasmania (-3.6 per cent).

Meanwhile, approvals increased in South Australia and Western Australia by 9.4 per cent and 5.5 per respectively.

Commenting on these figures, Housing Industry Association senior economist Shane Garrett said that despite the large drop in multi-unit dwelling approvals during September, the volume of approvals in this segment of the market is “still at very high levels by historic standards”.

“This means that the immediate pipeline of work will remain very elevated on the apartment side,” Mr Garrett concluded.

He also pointed out that during September, detached house approvals rose to their highest level since May.

“This is good news for both South Australia and Western Australia where detached houses still account for the large majority of new dwellings,” he said.

[Related: New dwelling approvals drop]