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New home building began recovering in February following a decline in January, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Total new dwelling approvals increased 3.1 per cent in February 2016, after dropping 7.5 per cent in January. Multi-unit approvals recorded the biggest growth – up 7.7 per cent – while detached house approvals declined by 1.0 per cent.
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Housing Industry Association senior economist Shane Garrett said the monthly lift in approvals was welcome, but it was likely approvals had peaked late last year and the volume of new home building activity would ease in 2016.
“Our latest forecasts indicate that about 200,000 new dwelling starts will take place during 2016, a reduction of 9.2 per cent from last year,” Mr Garrett said.
“This would still represent a very high level of output by historic standards, however the risk remains that new home building output will fall below the levels required to meet long-term demand.
“The onus remains on policymakers to tackle this problem and confront issues like planning delays, land supply shortfalls and heavily inefficient taxes like conveyance stamp duty.”
Tasmania saw the biggest growth in new approvals during February at 24.5 per cent.
New South Wales came in second with an increase of 14.3 per cent, followed by Queensland (9.5 per cent).
Victoria experienced the biggest decline in approvals – down 12.8 per cent, while South Australia’s approvals dropped 10.9 per cent and Western Australia’s fell 7.6 per cent.
