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MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Mar 05	Feb 05 to Mar 05	Mar 04 to Mar 05
	no.	% change	% change
Trend
Total dwelling units approved	12,684	0.1	-13.5
Private sector houses	8,537	-	-10.8
Private sector other dwellings	3,859	0.9	-19.6
Seasonally Adjusted
Total dwelling units approved	12,270	-6.8	-19.1
Private sector houses	8,534	0.3	-11.5
Private sector other dwellings	3,374	-25.5	-35.2
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Dwelling units approved, Total number

Private sector houses approved, Total number

MARCH KEY POINTS


TOTAL DWELLING UNITS

• The trend for total dwelling approvals was relatively flat (+0.1%) in March 2005.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved fell 6.8%, to 12,270, in March 2005.

• The trend estimate of private sector house approvals was flat in March 2005, following seventeen months of decline.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses approved rose 0.3%, to 8,534, in March 2005.

• The trend estimate for private sector other dwellings approved rose 0.9% in March 2005, the fourth consecutive monthly rise.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector other dwellings approved fell 25.5%, to 3,374, in March 2005. This is the lowest estimate since February 2002.

• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building approved fell 1.4%, to $4,570.7m, in March 2005. The value of new residential building approved fell 6.1%, to $2,420.8m, while the value of alterations and additions fell 2.5%, to $425.3m.

REVISIONS THIS MONTH

Revisions have been made to total dwelling units in this issue:

	1998-2001	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
New South Wales	81	95	555	-9	37
Victoria	2	-	4	-	-30
Queensland	1	6	83	8	1
South Australia	-	-	54	-	33
Western Australia	4	13	8	-	2
Tasmania	-	-	-	-	-
Northern Territory	-	-	-	-	-
Australian Capital Territory	-	-	-	-	-
TOTAL	88	114	704	-1	43

Ongoing audits of building approvals data, conducted by municipalities and the ABS, identified three municipalities in NSW that experienced data provision difficulties in 2002-03. These difficulties have been rectified and the full data for these municipalities in 2002-03 is now represented in building approvals data.

DATA NOTES

Estimates have been included in this issue for the municipality of Campbelltown (New South Wales) which was unable to report all building work approved in their municipality this month.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or David Finlay on Adelaide (08) 8237 7431.

VALUE OF BUILDING APPROVED


NEW RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The trend estimate of the value of new residential building is showing a rise over the past five months after six months of decline. The trend rose 0.8% in March 2005.

The trend estimate for private sector houses approved was flat in March 2005. The trend rose in New South Wales (+0.5%), Victoria (+0.1%) and Western Australia (+2.3%), but fell in Queensland (-2.3%) and South Australia (-1.6%).

		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Original
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,441	2,467	1,991	712	1,539	193	39	104	8,486
	Total dwelling units (no.)	2,774	3,363	2,760	1,059	1,935	218	74	154	12,337
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	-4.7	4.9	7.9	22.8	-0.1	14.2	-17.0	121.3	4.9
	Total dwelling units (%)	-13.0	7.3	1.9	38.4	-2.6	14.7	-52.6	227.7	1.4
Seasonally Adjusted
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,559	2,421	1,804	639	1,788	na	na	na	8,534
	Total dwelling units (no.)	2,752	3,317	2,576	986	2,207	200	na	na	12,270
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	-3.3	-	-4.7	7.2	4.8	na	na	na	0.3
	Total dwelling units (%)	-29.1	3.6	-6.5	26.2	3.0	-5.2	na	na	-6.8
Trend
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,576	2,423	1,844	642	1,761	na	na	na	8,537
	Total dwelling units (no.)	3,258	3,162	2,741	883	2,135	213	73	218	12,684
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	0.5	0.1	-2.3	-1.6	2.3	na	na	na	-
	Total dwelling units (%)	1.9	0.3	-3.9	1.4	2.6	-3.2	-1.4	-2.7	0.1
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available