The Australian Bureau of Statistics released September building approval figures which were better than expected, with total approvals rising 2.2% compared to the expected figure of +1.0%. The increase was driven by a sharp rise in Queensland and robust gains in Victoria which outweighed a significant fall in non-house approvals in NSW.
Private house approvals were down 1.9% for the month but up 1.5% for the year while units were up 6.1% for the month and up a whopping 53.5% for the year. Total approvals were up 21.4% for the year to September, a number significantly higher than the 5.1% increase in the year to August.
Westpac noted how high rise units accounted for all the approvals growth in the last 12 months and this growth was centred on NSW and Victoria. The bank is concerned revisions to previous months “hint at a more rapid underlying slowdown” but “importantly, this will take a long time to feed through into actual construction.”