Victoria, home to Melbourne, saw the biggest rise in new home approvals in 2015
New home approvals returned to growth in Australia during the month of February 2016.
ABS data saw 2016 start on a sour note for Australia’s construction industry, with new home approvals slowing in January. Now, data shows that new home building approvals rose 3.1 per cent in February.
“This comprised a 1.0 per cent decline in detached house approvals but the more volatile multi-unit segment achieved growth of some 7.7 per cent in approvals during the month. Over the year to February, new dwelling approvals totalled 232,194,” comments HIA Senior Economist Shane Garrett. “The flow of data over recent months indicates that approvals may have hit their high point in the year to October 2015, with a record 239,250 approvals registered over that 12 month period.”
Despite the monthly lift, though, the HIA forecasts an easing of activity as 2016 progresses, following the peak of late 2015.
“Our latest forecasts indicate that the about 200,000 new dwelling starts will take place during 2016, a reduction of 9.2 per cent from last year. This would still represent a very high level of output by historic standards,” adds Garrett. “However, the risk remains that new home building output will fall below the levels required to meet long term demand. The onus remains on policy makers to tackle this problem, and confront issues like planning delays, land supply shortfalls and heavily inefficient taxes like conveyance stamp duty,”
Australia: New home approvals hits record high
4th February 2016
New home approvals in Australia had their strongest year ever in 2015, reveal new figures.
ABS data shows that 232,078 new homes received approval for construction, 13.7 per cent higher than the record set by 2014 and “head and shoulders above every calendar year on record”.
“New home building has been a crucial support to economic growth over the past two years, particularly in light of the mining investment downturn. The challenge during 2016 will be manage the transition to lower volumes of new home building in an orderly fashion,” commemts HIA Senior Economist Shane Garrett.
The figures suggest the “start of a downturn in activity”, adds Garrett, as approvals dipped 4 per cent in the final quarter of 2015 compared to the previous three months.
“Multi-units accounted for a disproportionate share of the decline,” he comments. Indeed, multi-units had the highest platform from which to fall, after the uneven growth in 2015 saw multi-unit approvals surge 30.2 per cent and detached house approvals edge up by just 1 per cent.
During December 2015, new home building approvals saw the largest increase in Victoria (37.4 per cent), followed by Western Australia (8.6 per cent) and New South Wales (2.1).
Google+
