Building approvals slump
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found that the number of dwellings approved fell by 2.5 per cent in June, despite the 2.7 per cent boom the previous month.
Dwelling approvals decreased by 14.6 per cent in June in Victoria, but increased by 28.9 per cent in Western Australia, and 18.0 per cent. All other states recorded growth.
In seasonally adjusted terms, approvals for private sector houses fell 1.1 per cent in June. Private sector house approvals fell in New South Wales (-4.5 per cent) and Victoria (-3.3 per cent) but rose in Queensland (5.3 per cent), Western Australia (4.4 per cent) and South Australia (0.4 per cent).
The value of total building approved fell 9.8 per cent in June, in seasonally adjusted terms, after rising for 2 months. The value of residential building rose 0.2 per cent while non-residential building fell 22.3 per cent.
Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia (cat no. 8731.0) on the ABS website at www.abs.gov.au