The number of Australian dwellings approved rose by 6.3% in January to 16,579, following a 1.7% increase in December, according to seasonally adjusted data from the ABS, smashing expectations of 0.5%.
Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, noted: “Approvals for private dwellings excluding houses drove the overall rise, up 12.7%, to the highest level since December 2022.”
Private sector house approvals reached 9,042 dwellings, reflecting an 8.9% increase from January 2024, despite a 2.8% decline in December.
State-level results were mixed, with Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia recording increases of 4.6%, 3.3%, and 2.9%, respectively, while Victoria and New South Wales saw declines of 1.2% and 0.8%.
Apartment “number of large apartment buildings approved in New South Wales” continued to drive growth in private sector dwellings excluding houses over the past two months, which rose by 12.7% to 7,213 dwellings in January. This followed a 17.4% surge in December, bringing the annual increase to 41.6%.
The total value of building approvals fell by 6.9% in January to A$14.73 billion, reversing an 8.9% increase in December.
The decline was primarily driven by a 20.7% drop in non-residential building approvals, which fell to $5.69 billion after a 19.7% increase in the previous month.
Despite this, non-residential building approvals remained 11.3% higher than in January 2024.
Meanwhile, the value of residential building approvals surged to an all-time high of $9.04 billion, marking a 4.5% monthly increase. This included a 5.0% rise in new residential building approvals to $7.90 billion and a 1.1% gain in alterations and additions, which reached $1.14 billion.
In a separate ABS data release, Australia’s trade surplus rose by $696 million to $5.62 billion in January, surpassing expectations of $5.5 billion and up from the previous reading of $4.92 billion.
Exports grew by 1.3% month-on-month, compared to the revised 1.2% rise in December, driven by an increase in non-monetary gold.
Meanwhile, imports declined by 0.3%, following a sharp 5.9% fall in the previous month, with capital goods contributing to the decrease.
