MAY KEY FIGURES

		May 08	Apr 08 to May 08	May 07 to May 08
		no.	% change	% change
TREND
	Total dwelling units approved	12 636	-1.4	-1.4
	Private sector houses	8 781	-0.6	1.3
	Private sector other dwellings	3 576	-3.1	-5.1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
	Total dwelling units approved	12 438	-6.5	0.2
	Private sector houses	8 729	-1.2	1.7
	Private sector other dwellings	3 401	-18.2	-4.2

Dwelling units approved

Private sector houses approved

MAY KEY POINTS


TOTAL DWELLING UNITS

• The trend estimate for total dwelling units approved fell 1.4% in May 2008 following a revised fall of 1.3% in April 2008.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved fell 6.5% in May following a revised increase of 5.4% in April.

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSES

• The trend estimate for private sector houses approved fell 0.6% in May.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses approved fell 1.2% in May following a revised increase of 1.2% in April.

PRIVATE SECTOR OTHER DWELLING UNITS

• The trend estimate for private sector other dwellings approved fell 3.1% in May following a revised fall of 2.4% in April.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector other dwellings approved fell 18.2% in May following a revised increase of 11.9% in April.

VALUE OF BUILDING APPROVED

• The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 1.1% in May. The trend estimate for the value of new residential building approved fell 1.1%, and the value of alterations and additions fell 1.4% and is now showing falls for five months. The value of non-residential building approved fell 1.1%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved rose 0.7% in May. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of new residential building approved fell 4.6% in May. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of alterations and additions fell 10.2%, and the value of non-residential building rose 9.6%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
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
November 2008	8 January 2009

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

As noted last month, this release has used autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modelling where appropriate for individual time series. 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 ARIMA model is assessed as part of the annual reanalysis and following the 2008 annual reanalysis 61% of the applicable Building Approval series will use an ARIMA model. For more information on the details of ARIMA modelling see feature article: Use of ARIMA modelling to reduce revisions in the October 2004 issue of Australian Economic Indicators (cat. no. 1350.0).

The June 2008 edition of 8731.0 - Building Approval Australia will have leading zeros removed from the start of time series excel spreadsheets. The spreadsheets affected are 11-28 and 42-73.


REVISIONS THIS MONTH

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

	2006-07	2007-08	TOTAL
NSW	1	41	42
Vic.	-	-103	-103
Qld	-1	12	11
SA	-	38	38
WA	-	69	69
Tas.	-	2	2
NT	-	-1	-1
ACT	-	-	-
Total	-	58	58

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.