Residential approvals fall slightly in December 2014
February 7, 2015
Written by Urbanalyst
FOLLOWING an upwardly revised gain of 7.7 per cent in November, the number of new dwellings approved in December 2014 decreased by 3.3 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the latest figures released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
A total of 17,753 dwellings were approved in December, compared to seasonally adjusted totals of 18,358 in November and 17,048 in October. When compared to the same month in 2013, the number of dwellings approved in December 2014 was up by 8.8 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Dwelling approvals increased for the month of December in New South Wales (up 26.9 per cent to a total of 5,157 dwellings), South Australia (up 26.8 per cent to 1,012), Queensland (1.7 per cent to 3,310) and Western Australia (1.1 per cent to 2,787), in seasonally adjusted terms.
In Victoria, a total of 4,872 dwellings were approved in December (a decrease of 26.3 per cent compared to November) and in Tasmania, a total of 231 dwellings were approved (a decrease of 8.4 per cent).
In seasonally adjusted terms, 9,314 private sector houses were approved in December, compared to 9,313 in November. A total of 7,985 private sector dwellings excluding houses were approved in December, which was a decrease of 9.4 per cent compared to November's result of 8,847.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building approved fell 14.7 per cent in December after rising for two months. The value of residential building fell 10.9 per cent after rising for two months. The value of non-residential building fell 22.7 per cent following a rise of 29.1 per cent in the previous month.
Peter Jones, Chief Economist of Master Builders Australia, said the ABS results for December 2014 reveal that there was a total of 200,814 approvals in 2014. He said the results indicate a looming residential building boom in 2015 and challenge preconceptions that the approvals growth cycle has peaked.
"The slight fall back in approvals for December 2014 of 3.3 per cent seasonally adjusted came after the spikes seen in October and November 2014 of 11.9 and 7.7 per cent seasonally adjusted and strongly positive trend growth," Mr Jones said.
"The historic high is being driven by the boom in apartment building in Sydney and Melbourne that shows no immediate sign of abating.
"Builder confidence will be boosted by the strengthening pipeline of work that will drive much needed job creation and investment in both the industry and the wider economy.
"The boom in approvals will eventually flow through to increased housing supply and work to help ease affordability pressures.
"However, urgent reforms to remove the shackles of poor land release strategies, inefficient developer charges/ infrastructure levies as well as poor planning and development programs are needed if the housing upturn is to gain further traction," Mr Jones concluded.
More information is available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website at <
http://www.abs.gov.au/>.