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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Building approvals have continued their downhill run and are not expected to improve any time soon.
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According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, approvals fell by 4.2 per cent in November 2010 to be down 9.9 per cent over the year.
Other dwelling approvals fell by 7.7 per cent in November and in the three months to November were down by 6.8 per cent on the previous three months. Approvals for detached dwellings fell by 2.0 per cent in November to be down by 3.4 per cent over the November “quarter”.
Interestingly, the Housing Industry Association’s senior economist Andrew Harvey said these results were tabled before the last rate hike, suggesting residential building activity will not improve any time soon.
“It’s unfortunate to begin the New Year with disappointing building approvals data which point to subdued housing starts in the first quarter of 2011,” Mr Harvey said.
Much of the monthly November headline result is driven by a 13.4 per cent fall in NSW approvals. The November approvals figures also see falls experienced in South Australia (down by 2.7 per cent) and Tasmania (down by 15.6 per cent).
