Demand for detached houses bounces back

By Staff reporter

15 June 2015

Australia remains on track for a bumper year of homebuilding with another strong month of approvals.

There were 18,715 building approvals in April, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That marked a 16.3 per cent annual increase.

Private sector house approvals climbed 9.1 per cent to 10,103, while private sector unit approvals jumped 27.5 per cent to 8,271.

That was a noticeably different result from the previous month, when house approvals rose 1.6 per cent and unit approvals rose 59.2 per cent.

Housing Industry Association senior economist Shane Garrett said detached house approvals in April reached their highest total since February 2010.

“Strengthening activity in detached house building is crucial to broadening the base of the new homebuilding recovery which has been largely contained to the multi-unit market to date,” he said.

“It is important that policy settings allow the expansion in detached house building to deliver on its full economic potential.”

Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones said the boost in detached house approvals signals the welcome entry of more non-investors into the housing market.

“It is important this continues to rebalance the make-up of the new housing market, which has been dominated by high rise apartments,” he said.