More ‘mums and dads’ enter new housing market

“The boost in building approvals for detached houses signals the welcome entry of more non-investors into the housing market,” Peter Jones, Chief Economist of Master Builders Australia said.

“It is important this continues to rebalance the make-up of the new housing market, which has been dominated by high rise apartments,” he said.

“The latest building approvals for April recorded a rise of 4.7 per cent seasonally adjusted for detached houses to be up by 9.1 per cent in annual terms entrenching a strong positive trend for residential building sector,” Peter Jones said.

“This trend needs to continue to ensure that the new housing market becomes more sustainable and in putting downward pressure on new house prices,” he said.

“In total there was a 4.4 per cent seasonally adjusted fall in approvals of new dwellings, largely due to a drop in approvals of multi-unit developments particularly in New South Wales and Queensland,“ Peter Jones said.

“Nevertheless, overall approvals are up 16.6 per cent through the year confirming the strongly positive role residential building is playing in economy and jobs growth,” he said.