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The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released its monthly building approvals data for March for detached houses and multi-units covering all states and territories.
“Detached house approvals declined by 2.9 per cent in the month of March to be 15.0 per cent lower than in the same month last year,” added Mr Devitt.
“This continues the long-lagged response of Australian homebuyers to the RBA’s interest rate hiking cycle, with further declines expected in the coming months.
“The adverse impact of last year’s cash rate increases is still to fully flow through to the official data. Further cash rate increases this year will have only added further weight to these declines.
“Multi-unit approvals in 2023 have recorded their lowest levels since 2012. The combination of construction cost blowouts, labour uncertainties, increased compliance costs and taxes on investors has seen approvals for multi-units stall.
“These disappointing approvals numbers are occurring as population growth surges with the return of overseas migrants, students and tourists.
“This imbalance will see the affordability and rental crisis deteriorate further,” concluded Mr Devitt.
Total building approvals were down across almost all the jurisdictions in the March Quarter 2023 compared to the same quarter last year. In seasonally adjusted terms, decreases were led by New South Wales (-34.1 per cent) and Victoria (-26.6 per cent), followed by Western Australia (-14.9 per cent), Tasmania (-10.8 per cent) and South Australia (-5.7 per cent), while Queensland increased by 8.6 per cent. In original terms the Australian Capital Territory saw a decline of 35.3 per cent and Northern Territory was down by 19.1 per cent.
“Consistent with the recommendations from the Henry Tax Review: Don’t change negative gearing or capital gains tax until supply has been addressed and the purpose of the productivity summit should not be to increase the taxes on housing,” stated HIA Chief Economist, Tim Reardon.
The state government has established the Small Sites Pilot Program to unlock government land for housing development.
“Sales of new detached homes increased by 18.8 per cent in the three months to June 2025 compared to the previous three months,” stated HIA Chief Economist, Tim Reardon.
“The Housing Industry Association has welcomed the Northern Territory Government’s commitment to streamlining the Territory’s planning and building approval system,” HIA Executive Director NT, Luis Espinoza said today.