Dwelling approvals increased by 22.8% in New South Wales, by 5.2% in Victoria and by 2.6% in Queensland, the data shows.
But approvals fell by 9.6% in Tasmania, by 2.4% in Western Australia and by 1.3% in South Australia, in seasonally adjusted terms.
The value of total building approved rose 3.2%. The value of residential building rose 12.5% while non-residential building fell 12.3%.
The Housing Industry Association, the voice of Australia’s residential building industry, welcomed the higher figures but pointed out that the improvement is coming from a historically low point.
‘The result took the total number of approvals to 13,388, the third highest monthly result in over twelve months. It is pleasing to see approvals moving in the right direction, but the improvements are occurring from a historically low starting point,’ said HIA economist, Geordan Murray.
‘The volume of approvals in the last three months implies a rate of around 140,000 new home completions per annum, which is a low level relative to the housing requirements of Australia’s population,’ he explained.
‘We have to start somewhere and if an upward trend in building approvals can be sustained through the remainder of 2012 then we have made that start. We do, however, need to see greater traction in the detached house market and a broader geographical recovery,’ he added.
He also pointed out that geographically, the improvements in September were narrowly based as only the east coast states posted improved approval numbers.
‘New South Wales was the stand out performer where it seems the state government’s combination of stamp duty concessions and grants may be having an effect. From a relatively low base in August, total approvals in NSW were up by 22.8% in September. Underpinning this result was a 48% increase in the multi-unit segment, meanwhile approvals for detached dwellings improved by a modest 1.4%,’ said Murray.
