Non-residential approvals support a more positive outlook in 2018

Total dwelling approvals fell by 20% in seasonally adjusted terms in December 2017, and by 5.5% over the year. However, the monthly data can be relatively volatile and follows a long period of steady growth in number dwelling approvals over the latter half of 2017.

Houses continue to outperform apartments, with a fall of 18.4% in units and apartment approvals, offset by a rise in approvals for houses of 5.5% over the 12 months to December 2017.

The value of approvals for non-residential projects fell by 11.6% in the month, but are up by 16.8% in over the year.

The latter supports Master Builder’s expectations for a much better year for non-residential building activity in 2017/18, with a healthy pipeline of major construction projects expected to support work to the value of around $41.5 billion.