Fall in apartment developments drags dwellings approvals: ABS

Daniel Rossi, ABS director of construction statistics reported the fall was mostly driven by a large decrease in approvals for non-house dwellings, which were down by 37.5 per cent.

At the same time, house approvals had stabilised, up 4.3 per cent in October to a national total of 10,799, following a 14.8 per cent fall in September.

Mr Rossi also noted the ABS had recorded “historically elevated levels over the past year, largely driven by government stimulus and record low interest rates”.

“The October result remains 34.3 per cent higher than pre-pandemic level in October 2019, despite slowing in recent months,” he said.

Out of the states, NSW had copped the largest fall in approvals, down by 29.4 per cent, to 4,327 houses, with a reportedly large decline in apartment developments.

Across Australia other states saw considerable falls, including an 8.1 per cent decline for South Australia to a total of 992 approvals, a 2.7 per cent drop in Western Australia to 1,575 approvals, a 2 per cent decrease in Victoria down to 5,374 and a 1.8 per cent decline in Tasmania to 213.

At the same time, certain states such as Western Australia had seen elevated approvals for houses (up 16.3 per cent to 1,451), while Victoria had a 6.4 per cent increase (up to 3,621) and NSW stayed somewhat flat (up 0.6 per cent to 2,393).

House approvals in South Australia fell by 3.3 per cent, down to 856 for October.

On the other hand, total approvals in Queensland rose, up by 2.2 per cent to a total of 3,038, boosted by a 3.3 per cent increase in houses to 2,118.

The value of total building approved fell by 15.1 per cent in October to $10.1 billion, which included a 11.4 per cent drop in total residential building, to $6.4 billion.

There had been a 13.5 per cent drop in the total value of new residential building to $5.4 billion, versus a 2.6 per cent rise in alterations and additions to $963.3 million.

At the same time, the value of non-residential building took a 20.9 per cent fall, down to $3.6 billion.

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