APRIL KEY FIGURES

		Apr 08	Mar 08 to Apr 08	Apr 07 to Apr 08
		no.	% change	% change
TREND
	Total dwelling units approved	13 000	-0.6	2.7
	Private sector houses	8 835	-0.6	2.9
	Private sector other dwellings	3 833	-0.5	2.6
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
	Total dwelling units approved	13 570	7.8	5.2
	Private sector houses	8 832	1.3	0.6
	Private sector other dwellings	4 322	17.5	15.1

Dwelling units approved

Private sector houses approved

APRIL KEY POINTS


TOTAL DWELLING UNITS

• The trend estimate for total dwelling units approved fell 0.6% in April 2008 following a revised fall of 1.0% in March.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved rose 7.8% in April following a revised fall of 5.5% in March.

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSES

• The trend estimate for private sector houses approved fell 0.6% in April following a revised fall of 0.8% in March.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses approved rose 1.3% in April following a revised fall of 4.9% in March.

PRIVATE SECTOR OTHER DWELLING UNITS

• The trend estimate for private sector other dwellings approved fell 0.5% in April.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector other dwellings approved rose 17.5% in April.

VALUE OF BUILDING APPROVED

• The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 1.0% in April. The trend estimate for the value of new residential building approved fell 1.6%, and the value of alterations and additions rose 0.7%. The value of non-residential building approved fell 0.7%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved rose 4.1% in April. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of new residential building approved rose 10.1% in April. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of alterations and additions rose 6.6%, and the value of non-residential building fell 2.9%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
May 2008	2 July 2008
June 2008	30 July 2008
July 2008	2 September 2008
August 2008	30 September 2008
September 2008	5 November 2008
October 2008	4 December 2008

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


FUTURE CHANGES

Recently, the ABS has implemented improved methods of producing seasonally adjusted estimates, focused on the application of Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) modelling techniques. The revision properties of the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates can be improved by the use of ARIMA modelling. ARIMA modelling relies on the characteristics of the series being analysed to project future period data. The projected values are temporary intermediate values, that are only used internally to improve the estimation of the seasonal factors. The projected data do not affect the original estimates and are discarded at the end of the seasonal adjustment process. The May 2008 edition of 8731.0 - Building Approval Australia will use concurrent seasonal adjustment with ARIMA modelling where applicable to reduce the level of revision to seasonally adjusted estimates.


REVISIONS THIS MONTH

Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:

	2006-07	2007-08	TOTAL
NSW	22	88	110
Vic.	-	112	112
Qld	-17	139	122
SA	7	1	8
WA	-11	2	-9
Tas.	-	-1	-1
NT	-	1	1
ACT	-	-58	-58
Total	1	284	285

The inclusion of previously missing data from Victorian private certifiers resulted in an upward revision of 106 dwelling units to the estimates for Victoria in 2007-08. The inclusion of previously missing data from Gold Coast City Council resulted in an upward revision of 108 dwelling units to the estimates for Queensland in 2007-08.


DATA NOTES

A special article on ‘Changes in the mix of dwelling types’ in the years 1991-92 to 2006-07 is included in this issue (see page 7).


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Paul Pamment on Adelaide (08) 8237 7648.