ABS Building Approvals show that the number of dwellings approved rose 7.4 per cent in March 2012, following a fall of 8.8 per cent in February.
Dwelling approvals increased for the month of March in New South Wales (49.3 per cent), Western Australia (11.1 per cent) and South Australia (4.2 per cent), but decreased in Queensland (-8.7 per cent), Tasmania (-6.7 per cent), and Victoria (-5.0 per cent) in seasonally adjusted terms.
Approvals for private sector houses rose 3.9 per cent in March with rises in South Australia (16.3 per cent), Western Australia (14.5 per cent), New South Wales (3.5 per cent) and Queensland (1.8 per cent). Victoria fell (-1.0 per cent).
The value of total building approved decreased 8.9 per cent in, following a decrease of 31.7 per cent in February.
The value of residential building rose 1.3 per cent while non-residential building fell 23.4 per cent.
Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones said: “The latest residential approvals figure only offsets the previous month’s big fall but the residential building industry is hopeful that confidence will improve on the back of last week’s rate cut.”
“As the impact of lower rates flows through we should see the number of residential building approvals pick up in the coming months.”
“It is critical that policy works to ensure that any pick up in residential building over the remainder of the year translates into a strong and sustainable upswing.”
“The current level of dwelling approvals is running at 140,000 (annualised), way below what’s needed to even provide for population growth let alone to begin to eat into the housing shortage estimated by the Government’s own Housing Supply Council at more than 200,000 dwellings.”
“Master Builders believes the Reserve Bank should not rule out further rate cuts to help boost confidence and support activity in the building industry.”
