Building approvals for new homes remained relatively flat in April, falling by 0.3% from already-depressed levels. Source: Timberbiz
The Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday released its monthly building approvals data for April 2024 for detached houses and multi-units covering all states and territories.
“A 1.1% increase in multi-unit approvals was offset by a 1.0% decline in detached housing approvals,” HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt said.
“These depressed approvals volumes don’t foreshadow a rapid recovery from the weakest volume of new home commencements in the 2023/24 financial year, in over a decade.
“At the same time, Australia is seeing record population growth and acute shortages of housing that are expected to persist for at least the next few years,” he said.
Mr Devitt said that with recent inflation data casting further doubt on the prospect of any reduction in interest rates this year, government policymakers needed to pull the levers within their reach.
“The recent re-acceleration of residential lot prices in some markets suggests the industry could re-encounter land constraints, even as materials and labour constraints ease,” he said.
“State and federal policymakers need to incentivise local authorities to accelerate the release of shovel-ready land and permit higher density development in existing suburbs near jobs and transport.
“Addressing tax, planning, land and regulatory constraints on the housing industry is the only hope of reaching state and national housing targets in coming years and addressing the country’s housing crisis,” concluded Mr Devitt.
In seasonally adjusted terms, dwelling approvals in the three months to April increased in Western Australia, up by 39.4% compared to the previous year, and in Victoria (+2.8%). New South Wales was flat (+0.0%) over the period, while other jurisdictions saw declines in approvals, led by Queensland (-16.6%), followed by Tasmania (-12.2%) and South Australia (-11.3%). In original terms, dwelling approvals declined in the Northern Territory (-38.2%) and increased in the Australian Capital Territory (+4.1%).
