More glum news from the housing sector yesterday with another dip in prices and a fall in building approvals.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday that the total number of dwellings approved fell 1.3% to 13,377 dwellings (in seasonally adjusted terms) in April, after rising a revised 8.6% (9.1% original) in March.
The ABS said approvals fell a sharp 12.9% in NSW, 9.6% in Western Australia and 8.7% in Tasmania.
Big rises in Queensland (+29.2%) and South Australia (+9.9%) and a smaller one in Victoria (+0.3%) couldn’t offset the impact of the large fall in the three states.
In seasonally adjusted terms, approvals for private sector houses fell 3.3% to 7,709 houses in April (after a 1% fall in March, revised up from the original 0.8% fall)
The ABS said there were falls in Victoria (-6.2%), NSW (-3.8%) and Queensland (-0.7%) while there were rises in Western Australia (+5.1%) and South Australia (+0.9%).
The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector other dwellings approved rose 6.5% to 5,432 dwellings following a rise of 24.7% last month (26.1% originally reported).
The value of total building approved fell 18.8% in April in seasonally adjusted terms.
The value of total residential building fell by 1.3% while non-residential building fell by 38.6% after a 47.4% rise in March.
Meanwhile the latest RPData Rismark home value index showed prices fell for the 4th successive month, thanks to weakness at the expensive end of the market.
Sydney prices, though, held up.
National city home values fell 0.3% in April, seasonally adjusted, following a revised 0.6% drop in March.
In the year to April, dwelling prices of all types lost 1.5% but the most expensive 20% of capital city properties fell 5.4%.
The national housing market has softened in recent months after November’s interest rate rise by the RBA and then the floods at the start of the year.
RPData says the "near-double interest rate hike in November last year has bitten, with seasonally-adjusted Australian capital city dwelling values down 1.2% in the three months to end April".
Sydney’s home prices were up 0.3% in April and 1.2% for the past 12 months. Melbourne prices, meanwhile, were down 0.4% both for the month and versus a year earlier.
Brisbane prices slid 0.9% and were off nearly 7% from April of last year.
Perth fared even worse, dropping 1.8% for the month and off 7.1% over the year.
Clearly the resources boom is not helping maintain house values in Perth.
Adelaide’s home prices dropped 1.2% in April and 2.1% from a year earlier. In Canberra prices rose 1.4% for the month and 0.7% for the year.
