Australia: Aug dwelling approvals up 0.4%mth – Westpac

Matthew Hassan, Research Analyst at Westpac, notes that Australia’s dwelling approvals rose 0.4% in August, undershooting market expectations of a 1% gain although upward revisions to previous estimates put the number broadly in line.

Key Quotes

“At first blush the detail was against our prior expectation of that a weak high rise number would be more than offset by a solid lift in non-high rise, with the data instead showing private detached house approvals down 0.6% and ‘units’ up 4.8%. However, this definition of units includes both high rise and medium density projects (including mid-low rise apartments, townhouses and terraces). The more granular detail suggests the high rise component did fall sharply again with the gain being drive by medium density approvals. As such the pattern of weak high rise and firming non high rise was still evident although the latter undershot our expectations a little.”

“By state, weakness in NSW (–9.5%) and WA (–7.3%) was offset by strong gains in Qld (+13%) and SA (+3.7%). Private sector house approvals rose 0.8% in NSW and 1.8% in Vic but declined 1.8% in Qld and 2.6% in SA. Note that, as is often the case, the sum of the major states does not match the Australia wide movement in seasonally adjusted terms – in this case the major states total showed a 1% dip.”  

“Renovation and non res building approvals were both down in the month, trend estimates dipping as well although the value of approvals for both of these segments are still well up on a year ago.”