Building Approvals

Dwelling approvals dropped a seasonally adjusted 6.0% in August, missing market expectations of a 2.6% gain. The decline in approvals was broad-based.

Dwelling approvals dropped by a seasonally adjusted 8.2% in July, dragged down by a 22.3% plunge in the volatile dwellings excluding houses. The less volatile private sector house approvals increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in July. A separate set of data released by Cotality showed that home prices rose by 0.7% nationwide and by 0.8% across the capital cities in August.

Dwelling approvals rose by a seasonally adjusted 11.9% in June (mkt exp.: +1.8%), following a revised 2.2% increase in May (originally 3.2%). Annual growth jumped to a near four-year high of 27.4% YoY from 6.6% in May, partly driven by base effects.

Dwelling approvals rose a seasonally adjusted 3.2% in May (mkt exp +4.0%), following a revised 4.1% fall in April (originally -5.7%). Annual growth eased to 6.5% YoY, from 8.0% in April.

Dwelling approvals dropped a seasonally adjusted 5.7% in April (mkt exp +3.0%), following a revised 7.1% fall in March (originally -8.8%).

Dwelling approvals dropped a seasonally adjusted 8.8% in March. The drop in dwelling approvals was broad-based. Monthly trend growth, which looks through the monthly volatility, remained negative, with the pace of the decline accelerating from the previous month.