Housing stabilises at high level (Australia)
afr.com
Aug 03 12:41
AAP
The nation's housing market continues to stabilise at high levels, with new data showing building approvals rose in June.
Approvals to build in Australia increased by 0.9 per cent to 13,808 units, seasonally adjusted, from an upwardly revised 13,686 units in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
This countered the median market forecast for a fall of 0.5 per cent.
In the year to June, building approvals fell 4.8 per cent.
"The housing market appears to still be stabilising at a still high historical level of activity," RBC Capital Markets senior economist Michael Every said.
"However, we continue to expect housing activity to slow as house prices - and the common perception of future house-price prospects - moderate and as the employment outlook turns down.
"Of course, any increase in rates would see this process greatly accelerated."
Mr Every expected the Reserve Bank of Australia, which today kept interest rates unchanged at 5.50 per cent, to stay on the sidelines for the rest of the year.
He said a slowdown in the housing and retail sectors should lead to an easing in rates in 2006.
There was a 0.3 per cent improvement in private sector homes during the month, which were up 0.7 per cent over June last year. Public sector home approvals rose 1.3 per cent for the month.
Private sector other dwellings fell 0.4 per cent, following a major surge last month. Over the full year, private sector other dwellings were down 17.3 per cent.
The value of building approvals rose 0.2 per cent to $4.7 billion. The value of new residential building dropped 2.6 per cent to $2.6 billion, while the value of alterations and additions jumped 9.1 per cent to $451.1 million.
In a good sign for NSW, approvals there rose 11.2 per cent after a 20.9 per cent drop in May.
Approvals also soared 17.9 per cent in Victoria. There were substantial drops in Queensland (17.7 per cent), South Australia (15.5 per cent) and Tasmania (14.6 per cent).
However, total number of private sector home approvals in NSW were still low at 1570. In Victoria, they improved to 3076, while in Queensland there were 2028 private sector home approvals. |
