MEDIA RELEASE
30 November 2016	Embargoed: 11:30 am (Canberra time)	130/2016

The number of dwellings approved fell 3.3 per cent in October 2016, in trend terms, and has fallen for five months, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

In trend terms, dwelling approvals decreased in October in South Australia (4.6 per cent), New South Wales (3.8 per cent), Queensland (3.6 per cent), Victoria (3.3 per cent), Western Australia (3.0 per cent), Tasmania (2.6 per cent) and Northern Territory (0.2 per cent), but increased in the Australian Capital Territory (4.5 per cent).

Approvals for private sector houses fell 0.6 per cent in October, in trend terms. Private sector house approvals fell in South Australia (2.5 per cent), Western Australia (2.3 per cent), New South Wales (0.5 per cent) and Victoria (0.1 per cent), but rose in Queensland (0.4 per cent).

In seasonally adjusted terms, dwelling approvals decreased 12.6 per cent in October, driven by a fall in total other residential dwellings (23.5 per cent). Total house approvals fell 2.5 per cent.

The value of total building approved fell 1.7 per cent in October, in trend terms, and has fallen for three months. The value of residential building fell 3.2 per cent while non-residential building rose 0.8 per cent.

Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia (cat no. 8731.0) on the ABS website at https://www.abs.gov.au.

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