The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released dwelling approvals data for the month of January. At the national level, the number of dwelling approvals rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.8% to 17,412. The overall increase was driven by the volatile unit & apartment approvals (+6.2%), which more than offset a 3.0% decline in detached house approvals.
In the year to January 2016, dwelling approvals fell by a seasonally-adjusted 12.0%, with unit approvals down by 14.0% and detached house approvals down by 9.4%: