Dwelling approvals rise 6.4% in August but detached housing remains weak: ABS

The number of dwellings approved rose 6.4% to 12,046 in August, following a fall of 21.2% in July, according to the latest ABS figures.

Most of the growth was the result of a strong pick-up in the more volatile apartment approvals sector, which rose 23.0% to 4,596 dwellings approved in August.

However, the detached housing sector remained weak with approvals for the construction of private sector houses falling 0.5% in August to 7,314 houses.

In August 2011, there were 8,275 private sector house approvals.

Private sector house approvals fell in NSW (-10.4%) and Queensland (-3.6%) but rose in Western Australia (11%), South Australia (1.4%) and Victoria (0.8%).

Dwelling approvals (combined for both houses and units) increased in Victoria (30.2%), Western Australia (16.1%) and Queensland (1.8%) but decreased in NSW (-18.3%), South Australia (-1%) and Tasmania (-0.9%) in seasonally adjusted terms.

The value of total building approved rose 9.4%, in seasonally adjusted terms, after falling for two months.

The value of residential building rose 9.2% while non-residential building rose 9.8%.