The Housing Industry Association says monthly building approvals grew by a 15.3 percent in March 2010.
The increase was driven by a massive 51.2 per cent increase in units andsemi-detached approvals and a small 0.5 per cent increase in detached dwelling approvals.
HIA Senior Economist, Ben Phillips says “this pleasing result bucks the recenttrend of lower approvals numbers and a host of other poor leading indicator figures such as land sales, new housing loans and new home sales.”
Through the March quarter, total building approvals were up 4 per cent, with detachedhousing up 0.9 per cent and coming off a poor base, while ‘other dwellings’were up 11.6 per cent. Compared to 12 months ago, approvals for the Marchquarter were up 47 per cent.
“The strong result supports HIA’s forecast that housing construction will be muchstronger over 2010 with housing starts expected to be up 18 per cent on a very weak 2009,” Phillips says.
“HIA is concerned that further interest rate increases through 2010 will seebuilding approval numbers fall and housing activity drop back later in 2010 and 2011.
“Such a result would widen the housing shortfall and spell further bad news on thehousing affordability front, especially for first home buyers and renters attempting to get into home ownership.”
The number of seasonally adjusted residential dwelling approvals increased in March by 43.4 per cent in NSW, 8.2 per cent in WA, 13.3 per cent in Victoria, and 24.4 per cent in SA. Approvals fell by 1.9 per cent in Queensland and 5 per cent in Tasmania. In trend terms, building approvals dropped 25.4 per cent in the NT and dropped 2.9 per cent in the ACT.
