ABS Building Approvals managed a small gain of 1% In July, short of the 2% rise that the market was expecting however approvals remain 15% below the same time last year:
The marginal increase actually masked the underlying weakness in the series as the gains were entirely driven by a 77% increase in public sector approvals:
Private sector approvals were down 0.6% with private housing approvals falling 0.2%, remaining in a clear downtrend while private non-housing or medium density approvals were down 1.4%
On a state by state basis, NSW was the only state to record and increase with approvals jumping 5.4% while Victoria (-3.1%), Queensland (-1.8%), South Australia (-8.8%), Western Australia (-1.4) and Tasmania (-26.3%) all went backwards.
Non residential approvals also took a fair hit but at least remain around average levels:
Coupled with the appalling new home sales over the past two months, this data does not provide a positive outlook for the construction industry outside of those involved in mining construction.