The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released dwelling approvals data for the month of March. At the national level, the number of dwelling approvals rose by a seasonally adjusted 3.7% to 19,371. The rise was broad based with the volatile unit and apartment segment jumping by 6.7% whereas the more stable house segment rose by 2.6%.
In the year to March 2016, dwelling approvals fell by a seasonally-adjusted 6.5%, driven mostly by falling unit approvals (-11.5%), although detached houses (-0.2%) also fell slightly: