Home approvals bounce back
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today show that dwelling approvals bounced back in January, confirming that house construction activity will remain strong through to the middle of the year.
There were 13,369 dwellings approved over the month, a rise of 2.8 percent. The rise was uniform across all sectors with the approval of detached houses up 2.9 percent and multi-units up 0.9 percent.
According to the Housing Industry Association (HIA), the rebound supports recent discussions with many of Australia’s largest builders who said that a combination of administrative delays in December, and renewed homebuyer interest in January would see the figures improve.
Ruth Morschel, HIA’s director of public affairs and policy says that the improvement was also evident in HIA’s new home sales survey which showed sales improving by eight percent in January.
“January was widely reported as a good month for home builders with solid increases in display traffic,” Morschel says. “While the phasing down of the First Home Owners grant will begin to slow interest in the lower end of the market, repeat buyers are still taking advantage of very low interest rates, low new house prices and improving consumer confidence.
“The interest rate outlook remains positive and today’s modest rise will not add any pressure to interest rate movements. With a considerable amount of work in the pipeline and many builders delaying commencement of dwellings until closer to the middle of the year, the industry should be headed for a reasonably soft landing by the end of the year.”
On a state by state basis, Tasmania recorded the largest rise in approvals up 65.2 percent; followed by Western Australia, up 5.2 percent; Victoria up 3.7 percent and New South Wales and Victoria, both rising 1.8 percent. A fall of 15.9 percent was recorded in South Australia.
Source: Building Products News.
5-Mar-2002