Dwelling approvals fell 9% in November: ABS data

Following a 5.6 per cent decrease in October, the November result is the third consecutive month of falls for total dwelling approvals, declining by 21.7 per cent since August 2022, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) head of construction, Daniel Rossi.

Total dwelling approvals fell in all but two states, led by NSW at an 18.4 per cent decline, followed by Western Australia at 17.5 per cent, Victoria at 12.7 per cent, and Queensland at 5.6 per cent.

Tasmania and South Australia both recorded increases at 75.7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

Private sector houses also fell in most of the states, with Victoria recording a fall of 8 per cent, Western Australia at 6.1 per cent, South Australia at 2.6 per cent, and Queensland at 1.2 per cent. NSW, however, recorded a rise in private sector houses for November at a 1.2 per cent increase.

The total value of building approvals also took a hit in November, which declined by 1.5 per cent after the 0.4 fall recorded in October 2022.

The value of total residential building approvals fell by 4.0 per cent, including a 3.1 per cent decline in new residential building and a 9.2 per cent fall in alternations and additions.

On the contrary, the value of non-residential buildings approved “remained strong”, according to ABS, recording a rise of 2.0 per cent on the back of a 2.3 per cent rise in October.

Mr Rossi stated: “The result was driven by private sector dwellings excluding houses, which decreased 22.7 per cent. Approvals for private sector houses fell by 2.5 per cent.”

House prices dropped during September quarter

In December, ABS reported that the total value of Australia’s residential dwellings continued to fall from its $10 trillion peak, down to $9.6 trillion in the September quarter.

The preliminary estimate of the total value of residential dwellings decreased $358.9 billion to $9,674.4 billion, which followed June 2022’s drop to $10.033 billion from the March peak of $10.183 billion.

According to ABS, this was the largest quarterly fall in the value of residential dwellings in the country since the series began in September 2011, which took the average price of residential dwellings to $889,800 million, indicating a $36,800 drop per property.

[RELATED: House prices fell around $37k on average: ABS]