By Leith van Onselen

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has just released the Building Approvals data for the month of October. At the national level, the number of dwelling approvals fell by a seasonally adjusted -7.6% to 12,540, driven predominantly by a -18.0% decrease in approvals for private sector units and apartments. Consensus was for a total -1.8% decline.

In the year to October 2012, dwelling approvals rose by a seasonally-adjusted 14.5%. The key figures are provided in the below table:

A chart showing the time series of seasonally-adjusted dwelling approvals at the national level is provided below, split-out by detached houses and units & apartments:

As you can see, dwelling approvals nationally were trending down since early 2010, but received a large boost in May and June when the number of unit & apartment approvals bounced. This unit and apartments surge appears short lived, however, with unit & apartment approvals again on the decline

The below chart shows the time-series of approvals at the state level.

This month’s fall in dwelling approvals was driven by Victoria, where approvals fell by -14%. Queensland (-7%) also experienced falls, whereas approvals in Western Australia (0%) and South Australia (0%) were flat, and they rose in New South Wales (+3%).

Along with sluggish new house sales, there’s not a lot of joy in this release for Australia’s home builders, nor the construction industry more generally, which appears to be entering recession (if not there already).