Big drop in Building Approvals led by NSW and Victoria units

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Pete Faulkner - Building Approvals, QLD, Uncategorized

Residential building approvals fell by 16.4% m/m and were down 11.6% y/y in May as large declines in unit approvals, particularly in NSW and Victoria took hold. Across the nation as a whole unit approvals fell almost 30% for the year while house approvals were marginally higher (+0.6%).

In Queensland total approvals fell 7.4% m/m and were down 14.8% y/y. However, unlike at the national level, unit approvals were unchanged (at a very low level) for the month despite being down 26.4% y/y. House approvals fell 10.5% m/m and are now down 8.1% y/y.

Note that all data relates to the seasonally adjusted series as another Trend ABS series bites the dust this month since “this measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in approval activity during this time”.