Apartments Drive Approvals In November: Australia

The total number of dwellings approved rose 15.2 per cent in November to 18,406, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: 'The rise in total dwellings was driven by a 34.1 per cent rise in approvals for private dwellings excluding houses. This follows a 13.5 per cent fall in this series in October. Private sector houses also rose, up 1.3 per cent.'

New South Wales and Queensland lead rise in private sector house approvals

Private sector house approvals rose 1.3 per cent to 9,458 dwellings after a 1.3 per cent fall in October. This is 3.2 per cent higher than one year ago.

'New South Wales and Queensland saw the largest rises, up 4.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively' Mr Rossi said. 'In contrast, South Australia fell 3.7 per cent.'

Apartments drive rise in dwellings excluding houses

Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 34.1 per cent to 8,463 dwellings in November, after a 13.5 per cent drop in October.

'November had the highest number of private sector dwellings excluding houses approved since June 2018.' said Mr Rossi.

In original terms, the volatile apartment series rose 63.6 per cent to 5,558 dwellings, following a 39.2 per cent fall in October. This is 44.8 per cent higher than the average over the past twelve months.

'Queensland and Victoria led the rise in apartment approvals,' Mr Rossi said. 'Queensland saw 1,878 apartments approved this month compared with 634 last month and Victoria saw 1,496 apartments approved compared with 598 last month.'

(a) Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for NT and ACT for all dwelling types. Private sector houses are not published for Tasmania.

Residential building value drives rise in total approved value

The value of total building approved rose 12.8 per cent in November to $18.34 billion, after a 1.8 per cent drop last month.

Driving the rise was total residential building which rose 26.3 per cent (to $11.34 billion) to reach a new all-time high. The result was made up of a 30.4 per cent rise in new residential building (to $10.14 billion) and a 0.1 per cent drop in alterations and additions (to $1.20 billion).

The value of non-residential building fell 3.9 per cent to $7.04 billion, after a 13.5 per cent rise in October. The result is 15.1 per cent higher than one year ago.